The refusal of some health insurers to include contraceptives as a part of an insurance plan for women is one of the most contentious disagreements in the health insurance industry. Insurance plans today cover a variety of prescription drugs, however some still do not approve of prescription contraceptive drugs and devices. More than half of U.S. states insurance policies require that other prescription drugs along with the FDA approved contraceptive drugs and devices be included on their health care plans, as well as any related medical services. These services entitle, annual visits for womens recommended preventive care and services. Although depending on individual state policies, some states allow employers or insurers to refuse coverage of contraceptives based on religious or moral grounds.
Other opponents of birth control simply do not think it is worth the rise in premiums if insurers covered all common forms of contraceptives. However, a new law now requires insurance companies to offer contraceptives with no co-payments or deductibles, as a part of the Affordable Care Act. Access to inexpensive birth control affects women and their families in ways that many people don’t realize. Women should be able to control when they get pregnant because it allows them to go to school and have careers.
Unfortunately, research has shown that young women between the ages of 18 - 34 are also the ones whom are least able to afford contraception. It is just not true that birth control is cheap for everyone. Many women have medical needs that require them to use more expensive contraceptives. As a consequence, the government is defunding clinics that would otherwise help provide affordable birth control. What’s more disturbing is that Vi...
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... women because to cut out both would be detrimental.
It is shown that the rise in premiums overall for insurance companies in the long run would not increase deficits, but instead cut them down. Among religious groups the coverage of birth control is not a problem since it is widely used. The persons who object to such medication and services aren’t even women themselves. Happy women make a happy country.
Works Cited
"Facts on Publicly Funded Contraceptive Services in the United States." Guttmacher Institute. Web. 02 May 2012.
"Contraception." Guttmacher Institute. Web. 02 May 2012.
"National Business Group on Health (NBGH): Welcome." National Business Group on Health (NBGH): Welcome. Web. 02 May 2012.
“Keeping Birth Control Affordable." Planned Parenthood Action Center. Web. 02 May 2012.
"Health Industries." PricewaterhouseCoopers. Web. 02 May 2012.
After reviewing the opposing side to business’s not providing contraceptive supplies. We see that they do make a great point addressing a great advantage to women using birth control. How birth control is a great way for women to help prepare themselves for the future, and should be encouraged to females that plan to participate in sexual intercourse, and that plan to have a family in the future. However, this does not make a point towards, why employers should provide birth control to their female
During the whole of the 21st century, the subject of birth control has become a trending topic throughout various news reports. The debate on whether or not birth control should be required and distributed by all health plans has caused much controversy throughout the population. However, there was a time in our history when contraceptives, much less birth control, was available for the public. It was through the perseverance and determination of Margaret Sanger to make birth control legal for all women that it is accessible worldwide today. She was the leader of the birth control movement, which was conceived during the Progressive era of United States history.
< Dailard, Cynthia. “School-Based Health Centers and the Birth Control Debate”. The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy. 3. 5 (2000): 5-7. Online. 18 Dec. 2009
One of the biggest structural factors that changed the U.S. family structure over the last 50 years is the decline in the sizes of families due to medical advances. From 1800-1900, the average amount of children born was cut in half (Cohen, 44). This large decline was due to health care and technological advances, which has been able to increase the reliability and efficacy of birth control and prevent pregnancy (Cohen, 44). Although not widely available at first, the most common form of birth control, “the pill” first became available in the 1960’s. Nowadays, approximately 76 million women use the pill worldwide (Cohen, 45). The use of the pill
Advertisements about birth control pills and abortion clinics are never seen on television or even on billboards, but somehow people discover ways of acquiring birth control pills and finding abortion clinics. In a country where we can acquire certain items for free we tend to not think about who supplies or pay’s for these items. In every single state of the United States, birth control pills and abortion clinics can be found just around the corner. Based on “Pro Life Actions,” there are approximately 750 abortion clinics all over the United States. Also, with the help of “Planned Parent Hood,” bir...
With all the work put into finding ways to prevent pregnancy and help the pain of menstrual cycles, it is a shame to see it denied to women working for big companies. The amount of girls and women who use any type of birth control is very high and continues to stay this way because of the benefits and the percentage of birth control working for these women. Taking away working women’s access to affordable birth control is unacceptable and I hope that one day soon all women will have access to affordable birth
One con is that employed Americans may pay more for coverage as employers try to lower the costs of providing coverage. Another con is that some of the required coverages are against the moral values of employers. Being required to offer contraception may cause friction with religious beliefs. In my opinion I don’t see this as that big of a con. It seems that if an employer wants to refuse to offer contraception, he/she is forcing their own beliefs onto their employees. Every United States citizen has the right to the freedom of religion, everyone can practice their beliefs as they see fit but I do feel that there is a problem when someone is trying to make others practice their religion. I see a big difference between preventing your own pregnancy, and a completely different human being preventing pregnancy. If someone else decides to use some type of birth control, it is their choice and in no way affects you. To me, the pros are able to outweigh the cons. There would be a reduction in uninsured health events. When an uninsured person needs emergency care and is unable to pay, hospitals either have to raise their prices or take more government money. If every citizen is required to be covered number of uninsured accidents would decrease. To me, another pro is that providers will no longer be able to discriminate against people for their gender or health issues. In the past
People buy health insurance to cover their medical expenses because accidents and health problems can arise at any time. Many health services are not reaching the medical needs of women and giving them exactly what they need and people don’t realize that there is more to birth control then what it seems. There are a lot of benefits from birth control and it is not just women trying to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Some examples of these benefits include; healthier skin, stopping menstrual flow, and preventing pelvic inflammatory disease. Society needs to be more aware of these benefits so that these women start getting the medical attention that they need. Therefore, birth control should be 100% covered by all insurance companies.
After creating the word “birth control,” in 1916, Margaret Sander began a rebellion in a Brooklyn storefront. Opening America’s first birth control clinic, Sanger establishing the foundation for what it is today known as Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Consequently, she was arrested for thirty days for violating the “Comstock Law,” which prohibits the conversation and distribute of birth control. What brought the attention of Planned Parenthood was the Supreme Court ruling that the constitutional right of seclusion expands to a woman’s choice, in discussion with her physician, to have an abortion. The issue of Planned Parenthood being defunded will affect everyone not just woman.
The claims for long-acting, reversible contraceptives had a relative reduction rate of 35.5 percent and injectable contraceptives had a reduction rate of 31.1 percent (Stevenson, Flores-Vazquez, Allgeyer, Schenkkan, & Potter, 2016, p.853). The number of clients who returned for subsequent on-time contraceptive injections declined, as well. The scholars also determined that counties with Planned Parenthood affiliates had a relative increase of 27.1 percent, from the baseline, of the rate of childbirth covered by Medicaid. In response to the increase of Medicaid childbirths covered, the scholars concluded with
Since promoting birth control was still illegal in many states, the FDA approved the hormone pills for menstrual disorders, such as irregular periods or PMS. By 1960, the FDA had approved the first oral contraceptive tablet, Envoid, and by 1965 millions of women were on “The Pill”. That same year, the Supreme Court struck down state laws that prohibited contraception use, though only for married couples. Unmarried people were out of luck until 1972, when birth control was deemed legal for all (Seigel). The Pill was not without critics. Many people pointed to the contraceptive as the trigger that changed society. The fact that its rise coincided with feminism and the sexual revolution added fuel to the fire. “Some African-American leaders were especially critical of the Pill, claiming that it was being peddled in their community for the purpose of a “black genocide”(NIBH). However, nothing stopped the Pill from catching on. The Pill was an international revolution as well. Today, more than 100 million women worldwide use the Pill to prevent pregnancy. Yet access to safe and effective birth control still isn’t a universal privilege. A report from the Guttmacher Institute in 2012 found that 222 million women in developing countries want to use birth control, but are not currently able to access modern contraceptives (GLOWM). Even in the U.S., there has been a political push to restrict access. The rise of “religious bills” has also meant that hospital employees, pharmacists, and employer’s religious views on birth control can refuse to fill prescriptions or cover employee’s insurance coverage for contraception. History has shown that women and men will risk their lives or reputations for effective birth control. Restricted access to contraceptives does not necessarily mean that women will not be able to prevent pregnancies, but
The policy issue I have identified is prescription drug coverage. This interests me because prescription drugs are a major part of modern medicine. They serve as compliments to medical procedures; substitutes for surgery or other procedures; and new treatments where there were none previously (Oliver, Lee & Lipton, 2004). As the medical community’s understanding of the human body increases the possibility for new pharmaceutical interventions will increase.
To begin with, In today's working society it is extremely important to have medical coverage, and while nowadays most consumers receive their coverage through their employers, there is still a percentage of our population that
Women’s health care coverage hangs by a string while the repeal and replace of Obamacare is conducted. Certain benefits women obtain from health care may be omitted as pregnancy before the repeal and replace of Obamacare is seen as a pre-existing condition. Obamacare funds certain programs, such as planned parenthood; however, if replaced, this could drastically affect the amount of money women have to pay for what they offer for free. The repeal and replace of Obamacare negatively affects the health care coverage of women through halting the funds for planned parenthood and the effects of labeling pregnancy before the new health care bill as a pre-existing condition.
Far and away the most common method of birth control today is the birth control pill. The pill is relatively easy to obtain through Planned Parenthood clinics, the price is not unreasonable, and the pill has an excellent record of success in pregnancy prevention. However, the pill places all the burden of birth control on women, and although it is usually the women who have the most to lose in unwanted pregnancy, shouldn't [GR#1] men take some of the responsibility for birth control, too? Plus, the pill is something that users must remember to take every day, even if they do not engage in sex for months or years. The pill may have the added advantages of making menstrual cycles more regular, and decreasing the sometimes painful intensity of a woman's periods, but as far as being purely a method of birth control, the pill has drawbacks, too. Besides being something that the user must remember to take each and every day regardless of the frequency of sexual activity, being on the pill involves visits to the doctor's office or to Planned Parenthood with annual or even more frequent exams and tests that may be unpleasant and cost more money.