Within hours of the Trump Administration announcing two new rules that would allow businesses to opt out of offering their employees insurance that covers birth control, the attorney general for the state of California has filed a lawsuit to block the regulations from going into effect. [More]
birth control
California Sues To Stop Trump Administration Rollback Of Insurance Birth Control Requirement
By 10.6.17
Trump Administration Undoes Birth Control Requirement For Employer-Sponsored Insurance
By 10.6.17
Under current law, most employer-sponsored health insurance plans have to include birth control coverage, but that will soon change, with the Trump administration announcing today that it is rescinding this requirement, allowing employers to decide whether they want to include this coverage in the policies they offer. [More]
Supreme Court To Hear Another Challenge To Affordable Care Act Contraception Rules
By 11.6.15
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear its fourth challenge to the five-year-old Affordable Care Act — and the second challenge involving the law’s requirement that employers provide insurance that includes coverage for female workers who choose to use birth control. [More]
Supreme Court Hearing Arguments On Hobby Lobby’s Challenge To Contraception Mandate
By 3.25.14
The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments today in a case that could have a far-reaching impact on businesses whose owners’ religious beliefs may run counter to the medical needs of their employees, as craft store chain Hobby Lobby and a Pennsylvania cabinet-making business each challenge the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that employers provide health insurance that includes coverage for contraception. [More]
Merck Agrees To Pay $100 Million To Settle NuvaRing Lawsuits
By 2.7.14
There are thousands of pending lawsuits against big pharma biggie Merck involving its NuvaRing birth control product and whether its marketing downplayed the risk of blood clots to women who use it. Today, Merck announced that it’s agreed to pay out $100 million to settle these claims, but that will require almost all of the eligible plaintiffs to sign off on the deal. [More]
Bayer Says They've Paid Out $142 Million In Yasmin Birth Control Settlements So Far
By 4.26.12
Bayer says they’ve been shelling out some serious dough, $142 million to be exact, to settle around 651 U.S. cases involving their Yasmin and Yaz birth control pills. Consumers in those cases allege that the pills caused blood clots, which can sometimes be fatal or lead to heart attacks and strokes. That’s around $218,000 per woman, on average. [More]
When You Need To Send Arizona Lawmakers A Message, Say It With Knit Uteruses
By 4.6.12
Nothing says “I hate your proposal” better than packages full of knitted uteruses (uteri?) with googly eyes delivered to the offices of more than a dozen Arizona state lawmakers. That was the medium of choice used to send a message from opponents of a proposal to severely limit birth control coverage. [More]
Sponsor of Arizona's "Why Are You On Birth Control?" Bill Amending It
By 3.21.12
The state representative who was sponsoring a bill that would let employers ask why female employees are on the pill, and then decide whether or not they’d pay for it based on the answer, says she’s doing a bit of amending. She’s claiming we all just misunderstood the controversial parts. Oh, of course. [More]
Weighing The Costs Of Birth Control Options
By 3.6.12
With the issue of birth control and who should pay for it becoming quite the hot button issue of late, it’s a good a time as any to compare the costs of some of the more popular contraception methods. [More]
White House Tweaks Rule Requiring Employers To Cover Birth Control
By 2.10.12
Late last month, the Obama administration angered some people when it announced that all employers — regardless of their stance on birth control — would need to provide insurance that covers female preventative care. Today, the President said his people had come up with a compromise that he believes will provide birth control while allowing businesses to not be directly responsible for providing it. [More]
Should More Schools Have Plan B Contraceptive Available From Vending Machines?
By 2.7.12
Pennsylvania’s Shippensburg University is making headlines across the country today after newspapers and TV stations picked up an AP story about the school offering Plan B emergency contraceptive (you can also call it levonorgestrel if you’re not into brand names) via a vending machine in the school’s health center. [More]
Pfizer Recalls Birth Control Pills For Being Potentially Unable To Prevent Pregnancy
By 2.1.12
Pfizer announced yesterday that they’re recalling around 1 million packets of birth control pills in the U.S. Consumers won’t be harmed if they do take them, but the company warned there may not be enough contraceptive to prevent pregnancy. [More]
Religious Employers Will Have To Provide Birth Control For Employees
By 1.23.12
Religious opposition to birth control won’t be a good enough reason for church-affiliated employers to get out of having to cover birth control for employees, according to an announcement from the Department of Secretary of Health and Human Services. Several types of companies will have an extra year to come into compliance with the edict, ushered in by the Obama administration’s health care reforms. [More]
FDA Warns Evital May Be Counterfeit Morning-After Pill
By 8.2.11
According to the Food and Drug Administration, morning-after pills labeled Evital may be counterfeit and unsafe and ineffective at preventing pregnancy. The label of the counterfeit pill reads “Evital Anticonceptivo de emergencia, 1.5 mg, 1 tablet” by “Fluter Domull.” [More]
Birth Control To Be Covered By Health Insurance Without Copay
By 8.1.11
Late last month, an Institute of Medicine panel issued recommendations to the White House that birth control, along with a variety of women’s health services, should be covered under the Affordable Care Act. Earlier today, the Dept. of Health and Human Services made its final decision on the matter public. [More]
Science Tries To Give Men More Contraceptive Options
By 7.25.11
Guys who want to take control of birth control have limited options, but researchers are aiming to change that, focusing on hormones that reduce sperm counts. Men looking for alternatives to condoms and vasectomies may one day be able to pop pills that deprive their “boys” of swimming abilities. [More]
Panel: Birth Control Should Be Covered By Insurance Without Co-Pay
By 7.20.11
Yesterday, an Institute of Medicine panel released its recommendations to the federal government about which services for women should insurance companies be obliged to cover. Chief among the eight recommendations was that birth control should be made available without need for a patient copay. [More]
