Your Birth Control Pills Are Not Yet Free Under Health Care Reform

Despite a push to have birth control co-pays eliminated by classifying hormonal contraceptives as preventative care under health care reform, no dice — at least not yet.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued its first round of recommendations today, but birth control pills weren’t on the list of recommended free care. According to The Wall Street Journal, “The Planned Parenthood Federation of America is pushing for it to be included in a separate set of regulations on women’s health expected to come out in the coming months.” Fingers crossed.

Earlier this week, The Daily Beast’s Dana Goldstein gauged the level of conservative opposition to requiring hormonal birth control to be fully covered under health care reform preventative care services. Access to contraception, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards told Goldstein, is a rare middle ground on the reproductive rights front. Even the Conference of Catholic Bishops has been relatively muted on the point.

“I don’t want to overstate or understate our level of concern,” said McQuade, the Catholic bishops’ spokesperson. “We consider [birth control] an elective drug. Married women can practice periodic abstinence. Other women can abstain altogether. Not having sex doesn’t make you sick.”

Again, the word is “relatively.” We’ll have the next few months to find out just how high that level of concern is, and whether it will make any difference.

The Religious Right Versus Birth Control [Campus Progress]
The Coming Battle Over The Cost Of Birth Control [Daily Beast]
White House To Unveil List Of Free Preventative Services [WSJ]