Abigail Shimniok

Opill (norgestrel), a progestin birth control medication, became the first over-the-counter birth control method in July 2023. The Biden administration introduced a proposal that would make Opill and condoms free for women with private health insurance.
This proposal requires that private health insurance companies cover all recommended over-the-counter contraception products such as condoms, spermicide and emergency contraception, without a prescription and at no cost to the buyer. It would also require the insurances companies to inform their recipients about the costs covered.
Birth control is already available to insured women without copays thanks to the Affordable Care Act, but only with a prescription. This new proposal will expand the ACA to cover OTC birth control.
This plan would make oral contraception much more accessible to women, especially in states that severely restrict or ban abortion. In these states, researchers have seen extreme declines in prescriptions for birth control medications and emergency contraceptives due to closures of family planning clinics and misinformation surrounding emergency contraceptives.
“We have heard from women who need a specific brand of birth control, but the cost of their prescription isn’t covered by their health insurance. We have made clear that in all 50 states, the Affordable Care Act guarantees coverage of women’s preventive services without cost sharing, including all birth control methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration,” said Xavier Becerra, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “This proposed rule will build on the progress we have already made under the Affordable Care Act to help ensure that more women can access the contraceptive services they need without out-of-pocket costs.”
There will be a comment period on the proposed rule. If it is approved, it could go into effect in 2025, according to senior administration officials. However, if presidential candidate Donald Trump wins the election, he could reverse the rule.