Tester pushes Health Department to ensure health plans cover contraception

Reports: Health insurance plans aren’t in compliance with the law

(U.S. Senate) – Following recent reports that health insurance companies are charging women co-pays for certain forms of birth control in violation of the Affordable Care Act, Senator Jon Tester is urging the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take action and ensure that women have access to affordable contraception.

In a letter to HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Tester noted that recent reports by the National Women’s Law Center and the Kaiser Family Foundation indicate that some health plans are not in compliance with the law and have denied women coverage, charged them incorrectly, or provided them inaccurate information.

Tester pointed out that the Affordable Care Act provides access to birth control at no cost and that health insurance companies should be complying with the law by providing women access to FDA approved contraception.

“In the 21st century, women should have access to affordable, comprehensive health care services, like birth control, that empower them to make their own healthcare decisions and provide economic security for their families,” Tester wrote. “Unfortunately, I write with serious concerns that some insurers are failing to uphold the standards set in the Affordable Care Act and as a result leaving women without the health care services they are entitled to under the law.”

Tester asked Burwell to help states develop plans of action to ensure that health plans comply with the law and to also take appropriate enforcement action when necessary.

Tester’s letter to Secretary Burwell is online HERE.