US: Biden administration to propose Obamacare expansion to cover birth control

The Biden administration this week proposed a new provision to the Affordable Care Act that would expand coverage to access birth control. The provision would be for women whose employers have opted out of contraceptive use on their health insurance on religious grounds.

On Monday, the Biden administration proposed a new rule under the ACA, also known as Obamacare, providing free access to birth control. The ACA requires private insurance plans to cover the recommended preventive services, including contraception, without patient cost-sharing. Current regulations grant exemptions based on moral or religious grounds.

The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that should the new provision be implemented, women that are enrolled in plans under the ACA would get birth control coverage regardless of employer exemption.

“Today’s proposed rule works to ensure that the tens of millions of women across the country who have and will benefit from the ACA will be protected. It says to women across the country, we have your back,” said HHS secretary Xavier Becerra.

In the current regulations, women enrolled in plans that do not cover contraception on moral or religious grounds can only access contraceptive services through an accommodation that employers can refuse to offer.

In the new rule, a provider would offer contraception to an employee at no cost and receive reimbursements from the insurer, who would receive credit from the government.

The new rule would also remove the employer’s moral objections as grounds for exemption from coverage but will keep religious objections in place.

The Biden administration also announced on Monday that it would end emergency COVID-19 declarations on May 11, almost three years after the country imposed sweeping pandemic restrictions in order to curb the spread of COVID-19.

President Joe Biden has repeatedly extended the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency that was implemented by Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump. The emergency allowed millions of Americans to gain free access to tests, vaccines, and treatments.

The White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement that the declarations would be extended again until May 11 and then terminated. When the declaration expires, the costs for tests, vaccines, and treatments would be transferred to private insurance and government health plans.