Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Health Law's Contraceptive Coverage Requirements Show Significant Savings For Women
Out-of-pocket spending on most major birth control methods fell sharply in the months after the Affordable Care Act began requiring insurance plans to cover contraception at no cost to women, a new study has found. Spending on the pill, the most popular form of prescription birth control, dropped by about half in the first six months of 2013, compared with the same period in 2012, before the mandate took effect. (Tavernise, 7/7)
Women are saving a lot of money as a result of a health law requirement that insurance cover most forms of prescription contraceptives with no additional out-of-pocket costs, according to a study released Tuesday. But the amount of those savings and the speed with which those savings occurred surprised researchers. The study, in the July issue of the policy journal Health Affairs, found that the average birth control pill user saved $255 in the year after the requirement took effect. The average user of an intrauterine device (IUD) saved $248. Those savings represented a significant percentage of average out-of-pocket costs. (Rovner, 7/7)
Spending on birth control has significantly decreased since the Affordable Care Act's mandate for insurance companies to cover contraception went into effect in August of 2012, according to a new report. An analysis published Tuesday in Health Affairs shows that women have saved $1.4 billion on birth control pills, while out-of-pocket spending on intrauterine devices has fallen 68 percent. Annual, out-of-pocket savings were $248 for IUDs and $255 annually for oral contraceptives. (Lachman, 7/7)
Meanwhile, a program聽that offered free or reduced-price birth control to young women may be running out of funding.
A much-heralded Colorado effort credited with significantly reducing teen pregnancy and abortion rates is searching for new funding after GOP lawmakers declined to provide taxpayer dollars to keep it going. Started in 2009 with an anonymous private grant, the state-run Colorado Family Planning Initiative gave free or reduced-price IUDs or implantable birth control to more than 30,000 women. During the period from 2009 to 2013, births to teen mothers dropped by 40% and abortions dropped 35%, the state says. Armed with a national award for excellence, state health officials asked lawmakers this spring to provide $5 million to keep it going but were rebuffed. (Bowerman and Hughes, 7/7)
Also in the news: a profile of one of the architects of the legal challenge to the health law's subsidies, which were upheld by the Supreme Court last month.
For a lawyer who has just lost what might be the most important legal case of the decade, Jonathan Adler seems unruffled. The Philadelphia native was one of a small group of architects of the latest and likely final serious challenge to President Obama's Affordable Care Act, a case the U.S. Supreme Court decided June 25 in the government's favor. (Mondics, 7/7)
