Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health
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Womens Health Issues · May 2018
The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Contraceptive Use and Costs among Privately Insured Women.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) contraceptive coverage mandate issued in August 2012 requires most private health insurance plans to cover all U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive methods without cost sharing. We evaluate the impact of this policy on out-of-pocket costs and use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) and other prescription methods through 2014. ⋯ Our study adds to the current literature with the inclusion of 2014 data and confirms previous findings of a post-ACA decrease in out-of-pocket contraceptive costs. In addition, there was a small but statistically significant increase in LARC insertions after the ACA. This finding indicates the importance of reduced cost sharing for increasing use of the most effective contraceptives.