As states pass laws to ensure the contraceptive coverage mandate outlives the Affordable Care Act, some are also requiring insurers to cover vasectomies at no cost to consumers.
In the past few years, Illinois, Vermont, Maryland and California have all passed laws that require private insurers to cover contraception with no out-of-pocket costs. Of those, all but California included vasectomies in the mandate, Associated Press reports. New York’s legislature is also considering a similar law that would include vasectomies.
While some private insurers already cover vasectomies with no out-of-pocket costs, not all are in favor of the idea of state-level requirements to do so.
"At a time when we are looking to ensure affordability, we shouldn't be looking to add new requirements and new costs that would be borne by all premium payers," Leslie Moran, senior vice president of the New York Health Plan Association, told the AP.
Yet others, like the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, say that not including vasectomies in the contraceptive coverage mandate promotes the flawed idea that birth control is solely a woman’s responsibility.
The ACA’s mandate includes the 18 Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive methods for women, the article notes, including pills, implants and even surgical sterilization. That provision has faced its own share of controversy, as religious employers and groups have fought against it in court almost since the law’s inception.
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The Obama administration recently said it could find “no feasible approach” to resolve religious groups’ concerns without denying women full and equal health coverage, essentially leaving the thorny issue up to the Trump's administration, FierceHealthPayer has reported. Trump has been pushing congressional Republicans to quickly repeal and replace the ACA, but the GOP hasn’t settled on a concrete replacement yet.