Joe Biden is showing that he is not going out quietly. His administration has announced a new proposal that would have private insurance companies provide free birth control pills and condoms to all the people they insure.
Millions of people with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter methods like condoms, the morning-after pill and birth control pills for free under a new rule the White House proposed on Monday.
Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including prescription birth control or even condoms that doctors have issued a prescription for. But the new rule would expand that coverage, allowing millions of people on private health insurance to pick up free condoms, birth control pills or morning-after pills from local storefronts without a prescription.
…“The proposed rule we announce today would expand access to birth control at no additional cost for millions of consumers,” the health and human services secretary, Xavier Becerra, said in a statement. “Bottom line: women should have control over their personal health care decisions. And issuers and providers have an obligation to comply with the law.”
The emergency contraceptives that people on private insurance would be able to access without costs include levonorgestrel, a pill that needs to be taken immediately after sex to prevent pregnancy and is more commonly known by the brand name “Plan B”.
Without a doctor’s prescription, women may pay as much as $50 for a pack of the pills. And women who delay buying the medication in order to get a doctor’s prescription could jeopardize the pill’s effectiveness since it is most likely to prevent a pregnancy within 72 hours after sex.
If implemented, the new rule would also require insurers to fully bear the cost of the once-a-day Opill, a new over-the-counter birth control pill that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved last year. A one-month supply of the pills costs $20.
Expect Republicans, evangelicals, and the Catholic church to go ballistic about this. Their long-term goal is to prevent anyone having sex other than within the framework of heterosexual marriage, and even then only for the purpose of procreation. This move goes completely counter to that.
I do not know if this move requires congressional approval, which would be tough to get.
One of Biden’s aims probably is for “Republicans, evangelicals, and the Catholic church to go ballistic about this.” It would divert attention from Palestine.
“It would divert attention from Palestine”
Sadly likely. Nobody can just do a good thing because it’s good.
FWIW, keeping focus on Palestine doesn’t seem to be doing much good. Besides, this is only likely to distract people who don’t give a shit about a genocide anyway.