Current guidelines allow private insurers to withhold birth control on moral or religious grounds. Photo courtesy of Thought Catalog via Flickr.
By Catelyn Fitzgerald ’23
Science & Environment Editor
On Jan. 30, the United States Department of Health and Human Services along with the Department of Labor and the Treasury proposed an adjustment to birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act. This adjustment would increase access for over 125,000 Americans, CNN reported. According to the CNN article, the new rule would alter existing exemptions which allow insurers to refuse to offer birth control for religious or moral reasons. The rule will be opened for public comment over the next few months before being finalized, the article said.
Currently, most Affordable Care Act plans are required to include no-cost birth control coverage, but a rule created in 2018 by the Trump Administration allows private healthcare insurers to cite “religious beliefs” or “moral convictions” to be exempted from providing contraceptives, a press release from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid said. According to the press release, individuals enrolled in a plan that uses the religious or moral exemption can only access contraceptives if their employer or insurer voluntarily grants them an accommodation.
The new rule proposed by the Biden Administration would eliminate the moral exemption to contraceptive coverage, and create a pathway for individuals to access birth control even if their insurer has a religious exemption, a Reuters article reported. The article explains that the new rule works by allowing any provider to offer free birth control and be reimbursed for the medication by an insurance company. The article went on to say that participating insurance companies receive credits from the government for sponsoring the purchase.
A senior Health and Human Services official told CNN that the new rule is intended to serve as a compromise between religiously affiliated employers and individuals seeking access to contraceptives. The CNN article highlighted the importance of the new rule in a post Roe v. Wade America, where states are able to limit access to abortions, and went on to emphasize that the extent to which individuals are aware of the new individual pathway will be a key determinant of its success in increasing birth control access.