Government To Make All Birth Control Covered By Insurance

It looks liks birth control will be much more affordable these days as it will now be a requirement for insurance companies to cover it in full.

The federal Department of Health and Human Services was to announce historic women’s healthcare guidelines Monday that would require insurance companies to cover women’s preventive services, including birth control, for what amounts to no cost.

The guidelines, under the new healthcare law, would force insurance companies to not only cover the costs, but to eliminate co-pays and deductibles, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller.

The guidelines would take effect Aug. 1, 2012.

“Private insurance companies,” Cutter said, “have to provide the services with no out-of-pocket costs. Many of the benefits we’re announcing today are already part of large private healthcare care, employer plans, and they’re part of federal health care benefits. Members of Congress have the benefits. Now, they’re going to be available to all women.”

“There are things covered like treatment for gestational diabetes to keep mothers and their children healthy, well-woman visits to treat women for the things unique about their health needs and, of course, contraception.”

And, she observed, “This isn’t about abstinence. This is not about preventing unwanted pregnancies. This is about women’s health. There are known benefits based on the science, based on the experts, based on the independent studies of the Institute of Medicine that keep women healthy, if you lower the cost of contraceptive services. These are FDA (Food and Drug Administration)-approved contraceptive services. It helps with keeping women healthy, it helps with lowering the rates of low-birth weight (babies), lowering (the number of) premature births and helping women with chronic conditions have children in a healthy way.”

Now all you have to do is get a job or some health coverage and you’re set. Now, don’t forget: this isn’t a free-for-all to just go around having unprotected sex. Birth control doesn’t protect against STDs and abstinence is the only 100 percent full-proof way to protect yourselves.

There, we got that out of the way.

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