[ad_1]
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is making it easier for employers to exclude birth control from health insurance benefits provided under the Affordable Care Act. A new rationale has been put forward: Employees can get contraceptives at family planning clinics at great prices. people with income.
This, in turn, could increase the demand for clinical services, which are already limited. This plan is one of many recent proposals that may affect access to birth control, such as the physical separation of services in clinics and the adoption of strict new rules on insurance payments.
The Health Act generally requires employers to cover preventive health services and the Government indicates that these include contraceptives for women. According to the final rules published last week, employers can obtain a waiver if they oppose all or part of contraceptive methods based on their "sincere religious beliefs" or their moral beliefs.
In a separate rule proposal, the Trump administration stated that women who were denied contraceptive coverage by their employer would be eligible for the family planning program created by Congress in 1970 under Title X of the Services Act. public health.
The clinics in this program serve 4 million people a year, mostly low-income women and adolescents. Clinics must give priority to low-income families, defined as those with annual incomes less than or equal to the poverty line ($ 20,780 for a family of three). The demand for clinical services already exceeds what can be provided with the available funds, or $ 286.5 million a year.
According to the Trump administration's proposal, some women would be entitled to free contraceptives regardless of their income. The proposed rule states that "a woman may be considered as belonging to a" low-income family "if she enjoys health insurance through an employer" who, for religious or moral reasons, refuses to cover contraceptives that she is looking for.
Administration officials said the proposed regulation would meet women's needs while diverting legal challenges from the president's birth control policy. The proposed rule will "preserve the conscience protection" of employers and provide free or low-cost family planning services to women who need it, said the administration.
But Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the National Association for Family Planning and Reproductive Health, which represents many clinics, said the proposal "would divert Title X programs and use their federal funds limited to subsidize employers' refusal to comply with the contraceptive prescription. "
[ad_2]
Source link
