Affordable Care Act See New Hurdles with Contraception
Posted by on November 14, 2012 - 2:42pm

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has cleared two major hurdles in the recent past: the Supreme Court ruling on constitutionality and the reelection of President Obama. However, there is a very good chance that the Supreme Court has not seen the last of the health care reform law. Despite the bill's legal successes in the past, there are (at publication) more than 35 different cases on file against the contraception mandate in the bill filed by individual companies and religious organizations.

Thanks to the health care law, insurance plans are required to cover birth control and other women's preventive health services with no co-payments or deductibles at the start of their next plan year. For proponents of the bill, this means more health plans come under the law's reach, and that more women will be able to keep their wallets closed when they pick up their birth control.

Proponents further assert that gender equality means women having complete control over their reproductive lives. However, some organizations do not believe funding such services align with their organizational missions. Most filing amicus briefs are using the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and it’s unanimous support by the Supreme Court, to say that the mandate violates religious organizations right to not pay for contraception.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act requires that the federal “government may substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person 1. Is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and 2. Is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.”

Those in support of the mandate, like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), believe that the mandate will be upheld. The ACLU specifically states in their amicus brief that the plaintiffs are trying to “discriminate against women and deny them benefits because of [the employer’s] religious beliefs.”

No matter where a woman falls in her beliefs about what the health reform bill should and should not require, it is clear that the Affordable Care Act still has many hurdles before full implementation. For more information about the impact of these state-level decisions on your contraception and access to reproductive health care, contact your local Congressional leaders and employer mission statements.

Midwives are Integral Part of Greater Access to Women's Health Care
Posted by on November 6, 2012 - 11:23am

While the country struggles to provide affordable, quality health care to all Americans, a primary focus has been on women and children. However, one group of care providers is rarely discussed by health policymakers despite their significant contributions to health care: Midwives.

Certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) and certified midwives (CMs) provide high quality primary and maternity care to women and families. CNMs are recognized under federal law as primary care providers for women. They provide family planning services, gynecology services, primary care, childbirth and postpartum care, care of children for the first 28 days of life, and treatment of male partners for sexually transmitted infections. Midwives also use their credentials to prescribe medication, admit, manage and discharge patients, and interpret laboratory and diagnostic tests. These skills allow midwives to offset many of the primary and maternal care functions of MDs, and do so with lower costs.

The Institute of Medicine published in its report The Future of Nursing that critical workforce shortages are being seen across all health care systems, especially in primary and maternity care. There is a vast amount of literature that suggests CNM and CM professionals provide a high-value, cost-effective, patient-centered form of care in exactly those arenas. As 2014 and greater implementation of the Affordable Care Act nears, access to midwives is ever increasing, with the Affordable Care Act granting midwives 100% reimbursement under Medicare Part B. Further, new nondiscrimination requirements have been employed to ensure that individual and group health insurance plans must cover these services for women.

Nevertheless, many stakeholders including clinicians and policymakers are unaware of or fail to discuss the significant role midwives will play in health reform. Nor are they adequately addressing how barriers to their practicing medicine continue to play out in the medical world. It’s about time we make sure all women’s preventative and maternal services are given full attention and made effective.

Contraception coverage in jeopardy due to religious exemption
Posted by on November 22, 2011 - 11:58am

November 17, 2011

Last August, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a proposed rule containing the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation that health plans cover the full range of FDA-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women, without cost-sharing.  The proposed rule contained an exemption from the contraception requirement for non-profit religious organizations providing group coverage and which mainly employ individuals sharing the religious views of the organization.

We are now facing the possibility that, within the next few days, the Obama administration will expand the current religious exemption from the contraceptive coverage requirement to allow religiously affiliated hospitals, charities, and universities to exclude contraceptive coverage from their employee health plans.

Religious groups are exerting intense pressure on the administration, claiming that the contraception coverage requirement infringes on their “religious liberty” and seeking to have their beliefs and tenets bind all Americans’ health insurance coverage. These groups do not support access to contraception and will not do so no matter the exemption made.

If you want to weigh in on this debate, contact the White House today at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact  or 202-456-1111 and urge the President to protect women’s health and NOT to expand the religious exemption. The exemption makes no medical sense. Every woman deserves affordable health care, including contraception, no matter where she works.