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A few reflections on contraceptive coverage…
I served on the IOM committee that made the recommendations to HRSA for women's preventive care. It became clear during the open comment periods of our meetings that #birthcontrol, if approved by HHS, would be challenged.
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I served on the IOM committee that made the recommendations to HRSA for women's preventive care. It became clear during the open comment periods of our meetings that #birthcontrol, if approved by HHS, would be challenged.
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The religious orgs and other business that have sued believe that including contraceptive coverage in their health plans makes them morally “complicit” either because they oppose birth control or they believe it causes abortions (which it DOES NOT).
The religious objection to contraception has been at the root of al three #SCOTUS cases challenging the #ACA's contraceptive coverage provision. The Trump regulation adds "moral" objection to the mix.
The Obama Administration tried to craft an “accommodation” to assure that employers who object don’t have to pay for the coverage and women would still get it. Only houses of worship were fully exempt. That was still not acceptable to the religious employers.
Soon after issuing their new regulation, the Trump Administration settled with 70 religious employers with objections to birth control coverage and those women workers and female dependents lost coverage. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/department-of-justice-announces-settlement-in-hhs-mandate-suits-41813
The truth is that we don’t really know how many women will be affected by this ruling (even though both sides have their estimates) or how many have lost coverage as a result of the prior settlements. Trust me, I have tried to figure it out.
What we do know is that this ruling will open the door to more employers dropping coverage. While it is a very popular health benefit for women & inexpensive for employers in the scope of medical costs, for women, paying for contraception can cost a lot without coverage.
Our federal family planning program (Title X) is not well situated or funded to fill the gap. I has been reduced as a result of the Trump Admin’s regs banning federal $ to family planning providers that also perform or refer for abortions. https://www.kff.org/interactive/the-status-of-participation-in-the-title-x-federal-family-planning-program/
I’ve read many studies & reports. Based on the research, #BirthControl is good preventive health care for women, esp when women get to choose the method based on what best for them, rather than what is cheapest. Today’s ruling will reduce the number of women with that choice.
