Members of Connecticut’s state legislature are proposing a bill that would require all insurance companies to cover the cost of prescription birth control. Currently, half of all insurance companies in the United States deny payment for contraception. The proposal would require major plans to pay for birth control pills, intrauterine devices, diaphragms, Norplant and Depo Provera.
State Sen. Adela Eads, the Republican minority leader in the Senate, said “It is time to treat the medical needs of women and men equally.”
Supporters of the bill said that the measure would save money in the long-term, since many poor women cannot afford to buy birth control. The American Journal of Public Health reported that the annual cost for birth control under insurance companies would be $422, one-tenth the cost for prenatal care and delivery.
