Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham joined with other governors this week to request the federal government ensure that a newly approved over-the-counter birth control pill will be broadly available.
The letter was addressed to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and asked that the federal government ensure that individuals insured through private insurance, Medicaid and Medicare not be required to pay cost-sharing for the drug. Lujan Grisham and the five other gubernatorial signatories said in the letter that the Affordable Care Act requires insurers to provide coverage for all FDA-approved forms of contraception without placing a cost-sharing requirement.
But to ensure full compliance with this, the governors, who are all part of the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, are asking that the HHS update its agency guidelines to clarify that the ACA’s preventative health mandate to include no-cost coverage of the over-the-counter contraception without a prescription. The alliance is a coalition of governors who support reproductive freedom.
The FDA announced it approved the over-the-counter contraception in July. It is expected to be on the market in early 2024.
A 2020 Women’s Health Issues study found that with no or low out-of-pocket costs for an over-the-counter birth control product, there is greater access and decreased unintended pregnancies, according to the letter sent by the governors.
