ObamaCare Ruling Forces Insurers to Pay for Birth Control Pills, No Co-Pays

This decision is illustrative of the connection between social and fiscal politics. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has ruled that insurers must now pay for a whole range of women’s health goods and services with no co-pays from the users. By what law or section of the Constitution did Sebelius make this ruling? None, other than ObamaCare, which was of course passed on purely partisan votes, and her own very liberal views. And it is interesting, that while the president obnoxiously calls on everyone to “put politics aside” regarding the debt deal, his administration just keeps on jamming politics into every aspect of our lives. The government under Obama is now inserted into the most personal choices we make, both for and against deeply personal behavior.

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You opposed ObamaCare, or have religious objections to government getting involved in these decisions? Doesn’t matter. King Barack and his loyal lieutenants don’t care what you think.

Health insurance plans must cover birth control as preventive care for women, with no copays, the Obama administration said Monday in a decision with far-reaching implications for health care as well as social mores.

The requirement is part of a broad expansion of coverage for women’s preventive care under President Barack Obama’s health care law. Also to be covered without copays are breast pumps for nursing mothers, an annual “well-woman” physical, screening for the virus that causes cervical cancer and for diabetes during pregnancy, counseling on domestic violence, and other services.

“These historic guidelines are based on science and existing (medical) literature and will help ensure women get the preventive health benefits they need,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

This is not based on science and is completely unjustifiable in a free society. It forces some to pay for the lifestyles of others. And it’s doubly unfair because it leaves so many other co-pays arbitrarily on the table. For instance, this week I’ve been battling an eye illness. Thanks to great doctors and modern medicine, what might have blinded me in an earlier time is merely an annoyance for a few days. But every time I see the doctor to check up on it, I have to pay a co-pay.

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I’ve made no choice to have an eye problem; it just happened. That’s life. But if you’re unmarried and using the pill, you’re making an affirmative lifestyle choice. I’m not going to get all Baptist judgmental, but why should I, through higher insurance premiums, have to pay for my own illness and for your lifestyle choices?

Thanks to the social liberals who run ObamaCare, that’s the way it is now. It’s not like we’re talking about extreme hardships due to cost or access.

Today, almost all plans cover prescription contraceptives – with varying copays. Medicaid, the health care program for low-income people, also covers contraceptives.

Indeed, a government study last summer found that birth control use is virtually universal in the United States, according to a government study issued last summer. More than 90 million prescriptions for contraceptives were dispensed in 2009, according the market analysis firm INS health. Generic versions of the pill are available for as little as $9 a month. Still, about half of all pregnancies are unplanned. Many are among women using some form of contraception, and forgetting to take the pill is a major reason.

Forgetfulness on the part of some should not result in others being forced to pay (and a co-pay demand won’t make people remember, will it?). One counterargument might be that you’re forced to pay for the resulting pregnancy through stress on social services — but that’s now true on both side of the pill’s role thanks to this ruling.

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This decision is purely political. It also tears away at the notion of individual responsibility, and it may end up encouraging STD’s, which will lead to even more harm and higher insurance costs. Which, in turn, could end up reducing overall access as insurance costs more.

Nice work, Democrats. The plan to use ObamaCare to wreck private insurance seems to be well underway.

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