New York Is Releasing New Regulations to Protect Free Birth Control
While three million people the world over were busy marching for women’s rights yesterday, the state of New York’s lawmakers have been busy getting sh*t done: Namely, putting new regulations into place which would override the Senate’s decision not to continue requiring health insurers enrolled in the Affordable Care Act to provide at least one form of birth control without annual deductibles or coinsurance.
What’s more, the new regulations state that should a woman’s doctor prescribe a particular type of birth control, the insurance shall defer to the doctor if he/she so deems the item a medical necessity.
Considering all the reasons that women currently use birth control (many of which have nothing to do with contraception), it’s a pretty huge win for New York (other states may soon be facing increases of up to $1,000 per year — gulp!). While these new regulations reportedly won’t help those under self-funded health insurance plans or protect other women’s issues currently backed by the ACA, such as STD testing, it’s a step in the right direction, particularly in the face of potentially looming Obamacare repeals.
Set to take effect in 60 days, the new regulation states, “An insurer shall cover at least one form of contraception within each of the methods of contraception that the [FDA] has identified for women without annual deductibles or coinsurance, including co-payments.”
Between this, the plans the Women’s March has put into play for the first 100 days of President Trump’s presidency and the 500 women that signed up for training to run for congress, we’re feeling hella hopeful RN: Things are far from perfect, but we’re definitely seeing the light.
You can read the full regulations here.
What do you think of NY’s legislative protections? Tell us over @BritandCo.
(h/t Vox, photos via Getty)