Despite Leaving Key Questions Unanswered, New Contraceptive Coverage Exemptions Will Do Clear Harm

On October 6, the Trump administration released an overhaul of federal regulations governing religious objections to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) contraceptive coverage guarantee. The move had been long expected. In early May, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on “religious liberty” that signaled his intent to undermine the guarantee; a few weeks later, media outlets published a leaked draft of the new regulations. The two regulations issued on Friday—which took effect immediately—closely match the draft from May by creating sweeping new exemptions from the contraceptive coverage guarantee for employers, schools, individuals, and insurers with religious or moral objections to some or all contraceptive methods and services. Contraceptive Coverage Is Still The Law Of The Land Despite what some of the initial headlines may have implied, the new regulations do not eliminate the ACA’s contraceptive coverage guarantee. Under the ACA, most private health plans in the United States—whether sold to employers, schools, or individuals, or offered by employers that self-insure—must cover dozens of preventive care services without any patient out-of-pocket costs. That list of services includes a set of recommended preventive services for women, and those recommendations, first established in 2011 by an Institute of Medicine committee and reaffirmed in 2016 by an expert panel led by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, i...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Following the ACA Public Health Contraception contraceptive coverage executive order moral objection preventative care religious exemptions Trump administration Source Type: blogs