Question: My Facebook friends are urging me to get an IUD before coverage for birth control disappears. Will I lose really lose that benefit?
Answer: In the days immediately after the election, there was panic about birth control. Women were Urging each Other to “Get IUDs Now, Before It’s Too Late,” and “a Trump presidency will threaten women’s reproductive rights.”
For the past six years under Covered California, women have had access to free birth control through their insurance plans because of a provision requiring coverage for preventive health benefits. Trump hasn’t addressed this issue, but fears have been stoked because he became more clearly opposed to abortion as the campaign went on. And Vice President-elect Mike Pence is a strong social conservative who opposes abortion in almost all circumstances.
Technically speaking, Trump might not even have to rely on Congress to get rid of these benefits. HHS could redefine what types of services must be included among the preventive care the law requires insurers to provide.