The Biden administration is proposing a rule that would give more than 50 million women free access to private insurance for over-the-counter birth control pills and other contraceptives, the White House said Monday.
The rule, which would expand a federal mandate requiring health insurers to cover preventive care services at no cost to patients under the Affordable Care Act, is being proposed by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury. It would go into effect next year if finalized.
“This rule, once finalized, will expand contraceptive coverage to 52 million women of childbearing age with private health insurance,” Jennifer Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said at a briefing.
“For the first time ever, women would be able to obtain over-the-counter contraception without a prescription, at no extra cost, and health insurers would be required to cover even more prescription contraceptives without cost-sharing,” she said.
Perrigo Co.’s Opill is the only daily birth control pill approved for over-the-counter sales by the Food and Drug Administration. The proposed rule would cover other forms of over-the-counter contraceptives, including emergency contraception such as the morning-after pill Plan B, spermicides, contraceptive sponges and condoms.
The rule would also require health insurers to cover all FDA-approved contraceptives and some devices, including IUDs, in many cases without cost sharing. It would also require private health insurers to disclose to customers that those contraceptives are covered without cost sharing.
Abortion rights have been a major issue in the presidential election following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, has made abortion access a central issue in her campaign.
Harris praised the proposed rule in a White House statement, saying the administration is “proposing the largest expansion of contraceptive coverage in more than a decade. This new proposed rule builds on our administration’s work to protect reproductive freedom by giving millions of women more options for the affordable contraception they need and deserve.”
The statement also slammed Republicans in Congress who “have repeatedly blocked legislation to protect the right to contraception across the country.”
“While we fight to protect and expand health care, extremist so-called leaders are attacking reproductive freedom in every way they can,” she said.
Former President Donald Trump, Harris’ Republican rival, has bragged about appointing three of the conservative justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, but he has since said abortion laws should be up to the states to decide, and has stopped short of proposing a nationwide ban that could jeopardize his chances with swing voters in the November election.