Women in the United States could have their birth control covered by insurance companies, free of co-pays, if provisions of a new report are enacted as part of last year’s landmark health-reform law.
That is one of eight recommendations in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report that looks to expand preventive services for women under the 2010 law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The report was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to identify “gaps in preventive services for women as well as measures that will further ensure women’s health and well-being,” the agency said.
“This report provides a road map for improving the health and well-being of women,” committee chair Linda Rosenstock, dean of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a statement. “The eight services we identified are necessary to support women’s optimal health and well-being. Each recommendation stands on a foundation of evidence supporting its effectiveness.”
The new recommendations were based on a review of guidelines and the effectiveness of various preventive services, the committee said.