FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 27, 2024
Contact: Loretta Kane (917-410-4272 or loretta@caminopr.com)
Nearly 60 million women could gain access to over-the-counter contraceptives with insurance coverage
Groundbreaking report finds that insurance coverage of the OTC pill would be a game changer
NEW YORK — Today, Contraceptive Access Initiative (CAI) released a groundbreaking report that quantifies, for the first time, the potential impact of expanding insurance coverage of over-the-counter (OTC) birth control. The new report finds that the government could expand access to 56.8 million additional women of reproductive age by requiring health insurers and all federal programs to extend coverage to OTC birth control. The report is authored by leading experts Adam Sonfield and Dana Singiser. (CAI also launched a video to explain the pathway to making birth control more affordable.)
“As of this year, two major forms of contraception, emergency contraception and Opill, are available without a prescription, but most plans do not cover these products. Federal action to require coverage of these OTC contraceptives would be a game changer,” said CAI co-founder and report co-author Dana Singiser. “Birth control pills should be available at no cost, whether obtained with a prescription or over the counter. That is the only way to break through cost barriers to access.”
Extending coverage would make OTC birth control available with no out-of-pocket cost for 90% of women of reproductive age who have public or private insurance coverage, including approximately 42.5 million women of reproductive age with private insurance, 12.9 million individuals covered by Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and an additional 1.4 million beneficiaries under Medicare, military or veterans' coverage.
For more than a decade, access to the prescription birth control pill has been guaranteed with no out-of-pocket cost for many insured people as a result of the Affordable Care Act. Extending that coverage to OTC contraceptives has strong bipartisan support. A substantial number of voters — 71% — support requiring insurers to cover OTC contraceptives according to a poll conducted by Data for Progress on behalf of the nonprofit CAI. This support is bipartisan, with majorities of Republicans, Independents and Democrats agreeing.
Additionally, there is precedent for mandatory coverage of OTC contraceptives without a prescription. Currently, nine states have policies mandating varying degrees of such coverage for people enrolled in state-regulated private insurance plans and/or Medicaid.
“When it comes to contraception, affordability is an absolute requirement to achieve meaningful access,” Power to Decide CEO Raegan McDonald Mosley, MD, MPH, a practicing OB-GYN who also serves as chief medical advisor for CAI, said. “Birth control methods that do not require a prescription should be covered to the same extent as methods that do. Health insurers should cover all contraception — including over-the-counter — because contraception is an essential part of reproductive health care. ”
“The only reason to require a prescription to cover contraception is to shift the cost to consumers,” said Singiser. “Instead of increasing profits for the insurance industry, we need to increase access to birth control for nearly 60 million women.”
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The nonprofit Contraceptive Access Initiative advocates for increasing access to contraception, free from stigma, bias and coercion. CAI supports affordable over-the-counter access to oral contraception without restrictions. Our work reduces misinformation and challenges disinformation, while uplifting educational content that helps people make the choices that are right for them.