Senate Democrats and Republicans on Friday introduced new legislation to expand Medicare benefits to cover prescription birth control for women insured by the program due to long-term disability, closing what they described as a critical gap in coverage.
“Every woman should be able to get the health care that’s right for her, and this bipartisan bill will help ensure that all women can access no-cost contraception under all insurance plans,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), lead author of the bill.
Medicare, the federal health insurance program for Americans over 65, also covers approximately 9.1 million individuals under retirement age with certain long-term disabilities, accounting for about 16% of the total Medicare population.
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Private insurance plans and state Medicaid benefits have been required to cover prescription contraceptives for 14 years under Obamacare, but the same rules have not applied to the Medicare program, leaving a coverage gap for reproductive-age females on the program.
“This legislation would secure access to, and coverage for, contraception for the roughly 1 million women of reproductive age with long-term disabilities covered by Medicare, ensuring parity with coverage offered by Medicaid and private insurance,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Susan Collins (R-ME) also cosponsored the legislation.
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People under age 65 become eligible for Medicare insurance coverage if they have received Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI, payments for 24 months. Patients diagnosed with end-stage renal disease or ALS automatically qualify for Medicare benefits.
As of 2014, about a third of patients on SSDI qualified due to mental disorders and another 28% qualified due to musculoskeletal system or connective tissue diseases.
More than two-thirds of Medicare-enrolled, reproductive-age women have some form of additional health insurance coverage, most of whom are covered by state Medicaid benefits as supplemental insurance. This means that prescription contraceptives for dually eligible patients are covered under state Medicaid benefits.
The other 264,000 patients, approximately 29%, are solely dependent on Medicare coverage.
Duckworth said the effort to close the insurance gap was “long overdue.”
“There’s no reason that women with disabilities should have a harder time accessing birth control than anyone else,” said Duckworth. “By requiring Medicare to cover birth control without any cost to patients, our bipartisan bill would make sure all beneficiaries have equal access to birth control.”
Maria Town, president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, endorsed the bill, saying that her organization “recognizes bodily autonomy as a core value of the disability rights movement.”
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“Though the disability community is often left out of discussions about sex education, safer sex, and reproductive rights, many disabled people have active sex lives and are capable of getting pregnant,” said Town. “In addition, many people take contraceptives for reasons other than preventing pregnancy or managing their reproductive health.”
The bill also would require the Government Accountability Office to identify other contraception coverage gaps so that they could also be closed with additional legislation.