A new Kaiser Family Foundation report released today finds how health insurance carriers are interpreting and implementing the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive coverage requirement varies, limiting contraceptive options for some women. The ACA requires most private health insurance plans to cover a range of preventive services for women, including prescribed…

Insurance coverage of contraceptive services has been the focus of policy attention by state and federal policymakers, as well as in the courts, over the past two decades. This issue brief explains the rules for private insurance coverage of contraceptives at the federal and state level and discusses key issues regarding the provision and coverage of contraception by private insurance plans, including the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires most private plans to provide coverage for women’s preventive health care, including all prescribed FDA-approved contraceptive services, without cost sharing. To better understand how this provision is being implemented by health plans, Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) staff, with the Lewin Group, reviewed the insurance plan coverage policies for 12 prescribed contraceptive methods (excluding oral contraceptives). This report presents information from 20 different insurance carriers in five states (California, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, and Texas) about how they are applying reasonable medical management (RMM) techniques in their coverage of women’s contraceptive services. The different forms of female birth control reviewed in this report include the contraceptive ring, the patch, injections, implants, intrauterine devices (IUDs), and sterilization.

This report addresses a wide range of topics that are at the heart of women’s health care, as well as changes that women may experience as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The findings in the report, based off a nationally representative survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, highlight differences in health care for uninsured, low-income, and minority women. Other focus areas include: coverage, access, and affordability; connections to health providers; access and utilization of preventive services; and reproductive and sexual health services for women of reproductive age, such as contraception and family planning services and screenings for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

A comprehensive survey released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation provides a snapshot of women and their health coverage and care during a time of transition as important Affordable Care Act insurance market changes began to take root.   These include many changes that affect women including a prohibition on using…

Natural family planning has recently gained attention following the Trump Administration’s release of the 2018 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the federal Title X family planning program. The updated FOA emphasizes abstinence and natural family planning methods, a major departure from prior administrations that have prioritized counseling women about the most effective methods. This fact sheet provides an overview of Fertility Awareness Methods and their efficacy, reviews some of the new apps and natural family planning models, and discusses limitations as well as associated costs and insurance coverage of these methods.

Intrauterine devices (IUDs), along with implants, are known as long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs) because they can be used to prevent pregnancy for several years. This fact sheet reviews the various IUDs approved by the FDA; awareness, use, and availability of IUDs; and key issues in insurance coverage and financing of IUDs in the United States.

This brief examines how access to fertility services, both diagnostic and treatment, varies across the U.S., based on state regulations, insurance type, income level and patient demographics.

Voters in three states will decide on four ballot measures in November that could play a significant role in shaping policies and programs that impact women’s health, including abortion, sex education, and paid leave. This brief examines the initiatives and their potential effects.

This brief explains how the new regulations issued by the Trump Administration would change the contraceptive coverage requirement for employers and affect women’s coverage, the legal positions for challenging and defending these regulations, the potential rulings, and the broader ramifications.