Birth control opponents argue that the change will force them to subsidize free contraception, in violation of religious beliefs.
The Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama in March 2010 required that certain preventive care services, such as colonoscopies and vaccinations, be offered with no out-of-pocket costs to patients. It also directed the federal health agency to take a hard look at gaps in covered services for women.
A panel of doctors with the Institute of Medicine - the advisory group that the Obama administration asked to review the matter - last month recommended improvements to women’s coverage, and the federal health department said yesterday it had accepted that advice.
Starting a year from now, women renewing their insurance coverage will receive free screening for domestic violence, diabetes during pregnancy, and human papillomavirus in women 30 and older. They also will be entitled to at least one visit with a doctor to discuss birth control options, general health issues, or preconception counseling, at no extra cost.
Mothers who choose to breast-feed will be offered free lactation counseling and rented equipment, such as breast pumps, to help continue breast-feeding after they return to work.
The new guidelines will ensure that “no woman in America has to choose between paying a grocery bill and paying a copayment for preventive care that could save her life,’’ US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said.
Religious employers will be able to opt out of the contraception requirement. But the opt-out provision offered little more than “a fig leaf of conscience protection,’’ said Jeanne Monahan, director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council, a Washington nonprofit. She said the federal health agency pretended to take opponents’ interests into account but left them with the choice of enrolling in a plan they object to on moral grounds or going without coverage.
Premiums are expected to rise with the new offerings, but federal health officials said they haven’t calculated how much.
