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.
One of the most controversial topics in the United States in recent years has been the route which should be undertaken in overhauling the healthcare system for the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured. It is important to note that the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to make healthcare affordable; it provides low-cost, government-subsidized insurance options through the State Health Insurance Marketplace (Amadeo 1). Our current president, Barack Obama, made it one of his goals to bring healthcare to all Americans through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This plan, which has been termed “Obamacare”, has come under scrutiny from many Americans, but has also received a large amount of support in turn for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include a decrease in insurance discrimination on the basis of health or gender and affordable healthcare coverage for the millions of uninsured. The opposition to this act has cited increased costs and debt accumulation, a reduction in employer healthcare coverage options, as well as a penalization of those already using private healthcare insurance.
They thought that rich women kept contraception a secret. Wardell included that women in poverty had to work longer hours to support their numerous children. Wardell’s article involved a survey that stated that the number of the child deaths grew exponentially in those times, because there was little to no contraception available for women living in poverty. Therefore, less fortunate women were more vocal about their need for birth control, when Sanger went to trail, ninety-seven per cent of the public favored Sanger’s views – a great support for Wardell’s article’s argument
amongst women with respect to the issue of birth control. According to Davis, a woman. viewpoint on the matter was highly influenced by their socio-economic status. She explains that the cost of having a child is much more of a burden for the women of the labor class due to the lack of financial stability. For these women only the most dangerous forms of birth control are available.
B. Beverly Winikoff and Suzanne Wymenlenberg, The Contraceptive Handbook: a guide to safe and effective choices, New York: A Division of Consumers Union, 1992.
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.
The topic of birth control in public schools has attracted much support from the American public from surveyed statistics. For example, a 2006 Associated Press-Ipsos survey discovered that 67% of Americans support the provision of contraceptives to students. This study also determined that, “About as many - 62 percent - said they believe providing birth control reduces the number of teenage pregnancies” (Associated Press). Such a huge percentage suggests that Americans are very concerned about the increasing cases of teen pregnancies and would eagerly adopt any method that has a possibility of reducing this problem. In addition, the subjects in the poll indicated that they believe that contraception usage in schools has the potential of reducing teenage pregnancies. Many American people support the view points, that schools should offer contraceptives to students in schools. This can really help minimize...
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
These birth control methods make semi-safe sex possible. *** A ban on birth control would mean acts of unprotected intercourse because the lack of protection wouldn’t stop people from having sex. Therefore women who might not be responsible enough for children or just didn’t want them would end up aborting the children they just simply weren’t ready to have. (Dail)
American people look at their insurance bills, co-pays and drug costs, and can't understand why they continue to increase. The insured should consider all of these reasons before getting upset. In 2004, employee health care premiums increased over 11 percent, four times more than the rate of inflation. In 2003, premiums rose 10.1 percent and in 2002 they rose 15 percent. Employee spending for coverage increased 126 percent between 2000 and 2004. Those increases were lower than expected. (National Coalition on Health Care, 2005, Facts on health care costs). Premiums have risen five times faster than workers wages, on average. If medical spending continues to rise by just two percent more than personal income, by 2040 Medicare and Medicaid would hit 18.5 percent of the gross domestic product, leading the federal deficit to be 20.7 of the gross domestic product. (Melcer, R., 2004, St Louis Post-Dispatch, Rising Costs of healthcare pose huge challenges).
... “Abortion in the United States: Statistics and Trends.” National Right to Life. N.p., 11 Jan. 2012. Web.
In separate studies, Fuentes (2016) and Gerdts (2016) found that when clinics closed due to their inability to prescribe to the requirements of HB2, they left the individuals who would have used those abortion clinics without access to abortion providers. This in turn meant if women decided that they would pursue an abortion in a different city or out of state they had increased costs, due to travel and overnight hotel stays (Fuentes 2016; Gerdts 2016). In a review conducted by Rachel Gold and Kinsey Hasstedt, they also found that the negative attitudes and behaviors directed at those who provide abortions were spreading beyond that onto those seeking contraceptives such as the birth control pill (Gold and Hasstedt 2016). Gold and Hasstedt state that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission found that “.after Texas booted Planned Parenthood centers from its network of safety-net family planning providers, Medicaid claims declined for some methods of contraception, including long-acting reversible contraceptives and injectables” (as cited in Gold and Hasstedt 2016). Thus, the animosity toward Planned Parenthood as an abortion provider affects an individual’s ability to access birth control overall, not just abortions.
Lack of proper benefits and healthcare also keeps many of these women from being allowed to access abortion or contraceptives and in many cases if they’re already lacking the resources to obtain those, then its going to be that much harder for them to raise a child without those necessities. This absence of healthcare and benefits covering abortion or contraceptives is because many corporations and employers with pro life political views, or who are fiscally greedy have chosen not to provide women with that type of healthcare according to recent findings (Brown, 2013) (Associated Press, 2008). These corporations have had much support from the pro-life advocates and conservative politicians. In recent years Republican politicians have voted and pushed for employer discrimination rights against female employees using contraception or who’ve had abortions regardless of what laws are in place or what public opinion is. They’ve pushed for female employees to be required to notify employers if they’ve had an abortion or intend to have one or if they are using contraceptives or other similar services,
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.
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