Biden administration proposes expanded coverage of free birth control, other preventive services

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Over-the-counter contraceptives would be available free with no prescriptions required for patients, according to new rules proposed by the administration of President Joe Biden.

The White House and the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced new rules based on coverage of recommended preventive health services of the Affordable Care Act. The effort is in conjunction with the U.S. Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services.

The rules propose that group health plans and health insurance issuers also would provide patients with more choices, such as wider selections of covered oral contraceptive pills and intrauterine devices, according to CMS.

In a statement, the president alluded to continuing efforts to create or change laws dealing with contraception and women’s health. He included Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic nominee who will square off at the ballot box with Republican former President Donald Trump.

“At a time when contraception access is under attack, Vice President Harris and I are resolute in our commitment to expanding access to quality, affordable contraception,” Biden’s statement said. “We believe that women in every state must have the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions, including the right to decide if and when to start or grow their family. We will continue to fight to protect access to reproductive health care and call on Congress to restore reproductive freedom and safeguard the right to contraception once and for all.”

‘Extreme agenda’

The rules could affect up to 52 million women of reproductive age, said White House Gender Policy Council Director Jennifer Klein in an interested parties memo. She repeated the assertion about a Republican attack on reproductive health.

“Women are being denied essential medical care while doctors and nurses are threatened with jail time. Abortion, contraception, and IVF (in vitro fertilization) are under attack, while Republicans in Congress refuse to protect nationwide access to this vital reproductive health care,” Klein said. “This extreme agenda is out-of-touch with the American people – which is why voters have overwhelmingly chosen to protect reproductive freedom in every state where abortion has been on the ballot.”

Klein said abortion bans are leaving women without emergency care, while making maternal mortality worse. Women must travel hundreds of miles for abortion care due to limits on access to reproductive health clinics, contraception and other essential care, the statement said.

Despite those effects, congressional Republicans have proposed four national abortion bans, including a ban with no exceptions for rape or incest, Klein said.

FDA-approved

The changes would take place for the 2026 plan year.

“The proposed rules also further reinforce plans’ and issuers’ responsibility to cover Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved, -cleared, and -granted birth control methods without cost sharing,” said the formal announcement from CMS. “This proposed rule comes in response to reports that many plans and issuers continue to impose barriers to contraceptive coverage, such as requiring patients to satisfy step therapy protocols, imposing unduly burdensome administrative requirements, or requiring cost-sharing for services that are integral to the application of the preventive service provided.”

There is a 60-day public comment period on the new rules, which would not modify federal conscience protections related to contraceptive coverage for employers, plans and issuers.