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Government Mulling Forcing Insurers to Cover Birth Control as Preventative Care

The Institute of Medicine, a non-profit group, released a report arguing that all FDA-approved birth control and emergency contraception be 100% covered by all insurance companies.  Insurance companies seeking to participate in the health insurance exchanges mandated by Obamacare would be required to cover these services, if HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius includes these recommendations in her final regulation.

In a statement released by Secretary Sebelius, she stated, “Before today, guidelines regarding women’s health and preventive care did not exist. These recommendations are based on science and existing literature and I appreciate the hard work and thoughtful analysis that went into this report.”

Pro-life groups have pointed out that such regulation goes too far — and moreover, could potentially violate the “conscience” of those providers, who may oppose artificial forms of birth control.  But even without considering these individuals’ and companies’ positions on contraception, this is more evidence that the government is going too far to regulate health care.  The report also urges many other services to be offered without copay — including “lactation counseling and equipment, domestic violence screening and counseling, screening for gestational diabetes, human papillomavirus testing as part of cervical cancer screening for women over 30, counseling on sexually transmitted infections, and counseling and screening for HIV.”

One Institute of Medicine panel member, Dr. Anthony Lo Sosso of the University of Illinois, dissented from these recommendations, writing, “Troublingly, the process tended to result in a mix of objective and subjective determinations filtered through a lens of advocacy.”

Rather than regulating what services these insurers offer, why not let the will of the people and the free market do its job?  With multiple insurers competing on these exchanges, why not allow customers to pick the one that provides the coverage they most desire?  Instead, the Obama administration would rather look at new ways they can impose even more regulation upon insurers and consumers.

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