U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), chair of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office asking for an investigation into insurance companies that are still charging women for birth control that, under federal law, should be free.
According to Sanders, under the Affordable Care Act, health plans are required to provide birth control to patients as a preventive service.
Sanders provided results of an investigation in Vermont which found that three health insurers in the state—Blue Cross Blue Shield Vermont, MVP Health Care, and Cigna Healthcare—”violated state and federal law by neglecting to provide no-cost contraceptive services to consumers,” and between 2017 and 2021, “these three companies inappropriately charged patients $1.5 million for contraceptives that should have been provided free of any out-of-pocket costs.”
According to Brittni Frederiksen of the health research organization KFF: “The intention of the policy is full coverage for women’s contraceptives, but the implementation has been complicated, just because there are so many contraceptive methods.”
Frederiksen added, “Under the law, health plans are required to cover at least one form of contraception in each category of birth control, such as oral contraception — but there are hundreds of oral contraceptive pills that providers might prescribe for their patients.”
When The New York Times reflected on Sanders’s call for an investigation and posted the headline: ‘Contraception Is Free by Law. So Why Are a Quarter of Women Still Paying for It?,’ many women responded with shock (“Since when?! I didn’t even know about this”) and personal complaints.
One wrote: “I paid for the pill every time I picked it up. I don’t think I paid for the implant except the copay but I also switched jobs/insurance. It shouldn’t be insurance dependent or even require insurance what a scam.”
Another added: “So contraception is supposed to be free but many are paying (a lot) and abortions are expensive and inaccessible in many parts. What a time to be a woman.”
And another: “This never made sense to me. Insurers will pay more for maternity care and birth, so why not cover birth control?”
Another complained, addressing a separate issue but related issue that creates a financial burden on women for which men have no equivalent: “Why do we have to pay for menstrual products?? Why are they taxed!!???”
This comment notably received more engagement than any other comment. NOTE: Unlike birth control, menstruation is not a choice, yet the products are not covered.