In Rule Proposing OTC Birth Control Coverage, Feds Take AHIP’s Advice

  • Oct 24, 2024

    In a newly proposed rule, the Biden administration builds upon guidance it released earlier this year and requires private health insurers, for the first time, to cover over-the-counter (OTC) birth control. That includes Opill (norgestrel), which in 2023 became the first daily oral contraceptive approved for use in the U.S. without a prescription. 

    The news that insurers will be required to cover OTC birth control did not come as a surprise, as CMS in October 2023 released a request for information (RFI) asking for input about the “benefits and challenges” that would be associated with requiring coverage of OTC preventive products, including contraception.  

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  • Leslie Small

    Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.

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