Washington, DC — Today, Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) led a bicameral letter urging health insurers to guarantee full access to over-the-counter birth control by complying with the ACA’s contraceptive coverage requirement. The letter comes after years of systemic noncompliance by insurance plans, forcing women to pay out of pocket or face administrative red tape to access the birth control that works best for them.
“We write to express our concerns that your members are not complying with the Affordable Care Act contraception coverage requirement, and to urge them to consider immediate adoption of the therapeutic equivalence standard outlined by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury on January 22, 2024,” wrote the lawmakers in a letter toAmerica’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)—whose membership includes major health insurers across the country—and UnitedHealth Group.
Despite the ACA’s protections, the members outlined how multiple investigations—including by the House Oversight Committee, “have revealed that plans routinely violate the ACA by refusing to cover certain products, imposing administrative hurdles like prior authorizations and step therapy (fail first protocols), and requiring patient cost-sharing.”
In response to these violations, the Biden Administration recently released additional guidance that says insurance companies have to cover the full cost of any contraceptive approved by the FDA that doesn’t have a more affordable alternative like a generic drug. To ensure women can access the birth control they need, the members urged insurance plans to immediately adopt this standard and comply with the law.
The letter has been endorsed by: Planned Parenthood Federations of America, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL), Power to Decide, and Physicians for Reproductive Health.
Read the full letter below and HERE.
Senator Cortez Masto has been fierce advocate for women’s reproductive rights. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Senator Cortez Masto introduced the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act of 2022 to ensure legal protections for women traveling across state lines to receive reproductive care. She has urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to protect the data privacy of women seeking reproductive health care and introduced legislation to make sure women across the country have access to affordable over-the-counter birth control. She took on one of the nation’s biggest pharmaceutical wholesalers to ensure Nevadans can access the abortion pill in retail pharmacies, including Walgreens.
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