The Obama Administration cracked down Monday on insurance companies flouting the Affordable Care Act’s mandate on providing free contraception to policyholders.
In new healthcare guidelines, the Department of Health and Human Services clarified that insurance companies are required to accept all forms of federally approved methods of birth control for women.
Additionally, insurers are required to cover counseling and genetic testing for women with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer. Preventive services for transgender men or women are also required when a provider deems them “medically appropriate.”
The new guidelines come after reports from prominent women’s groups that insurers were ignoring the ACA mandate and refusing to provide coverage for birth control.
A study from the Kaiser Family Foundation, for example, found that some insurance providers had crafted exceptions to the birth control mandate for forms of contraception like Plan B, implants, intrauterine devices, the patch, the ring and sterilization.
“As the law has been implemented, issues have been raised by some women and from members of Congress that insurance companies were not covering the contraceptive method recommended by doctors, as well as concerns from issuers that the existing guidance did not provide enough detail about how specific types of contraception should be covered,” the HHS said in a statement.
America’s Health Insurance Plans, the largest national trade group for health insurers, had just hours before the guidelines were issued posted a blog defending the actions of insurers.
“Health plans provide access to a wide range of contraceptive options as required under the federal law,” said President and CEO Karen Ignani, who noted that health plans work with manufacturers to help women afford birth control products.
However, after the HHS released its guidelines, AHIP responded saying:
“Today’s guidance takes important steps to support health plans’ use of medical management in providing women with safe, affordable healthcare services. Health plans are committed to promoting evidence-based decision-making and to ensuring all consumers understand how their coverage works.”
Women’s health groups celebrated the news, including the National Women’s Law Center, which was key in bringing the issue to the HHS’s attention.
“Insurance companies have been breaking the law and, today, the Obama administration underscored that it will not tolerate these violations,” said the group’s vice president for health and reproductive rights, Gretchen Borchelt.
“It is now absolutely clear that all means all – all unique birth control methods for women must be covered. Under the Affordable Care Act, women are no longer supposed to be at the mercy of insurance companies. It is past time for insurers to adhere to the law and stop telling women that their chosen method isn’t covered or that they must pay for it.”
