After advisors recommended the Food and Drug Administration approve an over-the-counter birth control pill, Washington’s senior U.S. Senator has a plan to make sure women don’t have to pay for it out-of-pocket.
With the F.D.A. expected to decide on approval of the no-prescription-needed birth control, known as “Opill”, this summer, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) is getting ahead of the decision with her bill, which would require health insurers to cover the medication, just as they are for prescription birth control. There is a House version of the bill, co-sponsored by Representative Ayanna Presley (D-MA 7th)
Murray says access to contraceptives is even more important after the Dobbs decision that overturned the Roe vs. Wade abortion ruling. “Women already face so many barriers to controlling their reproductive lives and futures,” Murray says, “so we have to be doing everything possible that we can to make it easier to access and afford birth control.”
There have been some Republicans that have pushed for OTC birth control, but the piece most are against is getting insurance companies to pay for it.
