Albany, n.y.
Vasectomies, which are not covered under President Obama’s health care law, are increasingly being included in state measures that would require insurers to provide cost-free coverage of birth control.
Backers of laws and proposals in such states as Illinois, Vermont, Maryland and most recently New York say that if women can get tubal ligations with no out-of-pocket costs, men should be able to get their surgical sterilization covered cost-free as well. Such state measures are seen as a key backup if the federal mandate is repealed.
“What we have are couples facing a decision about which birth control method to use and they see that methods used by women have no out-of-pocket cost while there would be a cost, in some cases a fairly substantial cost, for men’s,” said Adam Sonfield, a policy analyst for the Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproductive health issues.
The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals says excluding vasectomies from the contraceptive coverage mandate doesn’t make sense financially and reflects the view that family planning is a “woman’s issue.”
Such changes could be significant because, according to Guttmacher studies, nearly a quarter of women using birth control would prefer male-only methods of condoms and vasectomies. Neither method had been included among the cost-free options in “Obamacare.”
The mandate covers the 18 Food and Drug Administration-approved methods of birth control used by women, including pills, patches, shots, implants, IUDs, cervical rings and caps, sponges, spermicide, female condoms, emergency pills and surgical sterilization.
Most state Medicaid programs provide free access to all birth control methods, including those for men.