This is important, so here are a couple of links:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/anotherthing/337332
July 21, 2008...5:20 pm
McCain Hates Contraception
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6 Comments
July 21, 2008 at 11:22 pm
(preface: I’m genuinely interested in other opinions here; not trying to start a flame war) Given that condoms are widely available, what is the pressing reason to force insurance companies to cover birth control? I agree that it’s just silly that they cover viagra, but isn’t one other reasonable solution for them not cover one pretty voluntary medication rather than force them to cover more? (caveat: I don’t know if there are other medical reasons to be on birth control other than as a contraceptive) The message said that the McCain camp said that he was for competition in the industry, not that he’s against contraception. So I think your post is issuing a pretty strong statement given the quotes there.
July 22, 2008 at 1:09 am
Of course even though condoms may be widely available, there is the assumption that they would be used. McCain may be all for competition in the insurance industry, but he still vote against birth control. Given the wage gap, the fact that women have to pay for birth control out of pocket deepens the gap when they may already be paying high deductibles, especially if young and single. Covering birth control would certainly make more sense for the insurance companies to cover vs. an unwanted pregnancy that would result in them paying a lot more for prenatal care, hospitalization for delivering a child, well baby visits, etc., etc. Take it a step further and if the child has problems at birth, the cost would be huge. And then if insurance limits payments, the mother and child may be on welfare and/or medicaid which then affects everyone. Please note, that I didn’t even mention abortion since McCain is also prolife and god knows what he’d do with the Supreme Court and Roe v Wade.
July 22, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Here are my quick thoughts on why it is important to have birth control coverage:
1) It provides women with a greater sense of autonomy about their reproductive rights. Sure condoms may be widely available, but some women may have trouble convincing men to use them. Some women simply like the idea that they have control the control in the situation.
2) The pill (or really any hormonal form of BC) can have some other health uses. In some cases, it is given to women who’s periods are all out of whack. It can also help with acne.
3) The best birth control is pretty expensive, even with insurance and I think broaden insurance coverage could help that problem. I’ve talked a lot about how I think the pill is hard to use perfectly, so in many cases, it would be nice to have another similarly priced option, like the NuvaRing. I find it incredibly problematic that the best BC options are expensive because that limits them only to upper class women. Of course, insurance coverage can only help so much since so many women still lack health insurance coverage, but maybe someday we will actually have universal healthcare and that care will cover all forms of BC.
4) It should also be noted that it is problematic that men, who generally make more than women, have all their medical needs covered, no matter how frivoulous, and women are not treated that way. The incredibly high cost of a pregnancy and a child only makes this more troubling.
5) If medicines, such as birth control, are widely covered, more women will buy them, which means that the drug companies will be able to make more money off of those drugs. While I am usually not for big companies making more money, I would hope that the increased demand for medicines for women might spur the drug companies to do more research on women’s health issues.
Lastly, I find McCain’s opinions on contraception quite scary because he certainly seems to be in the camp that is all for not only outlawing abortion, but also outlawing forms of contraception women need. The thought of women losing all the options they have for controlling their reproductive rights and making personal choices about whether or not to have children really scares the hell out of me.
July 22, 2008 at 1:32 pm
“Covering birth control would certainly make more sense for the insurance companies to cover vs. an unwanted pregnancy that would result in them paying a lot more for prenatal care, hospitalization for delivering a child, well baby visits, etc., etc. Take it a step further and if the child has problems at birth, the cost would be huge. And then if insurance limits payments, the mother and child may be on welfare and/or medicaid which then affects everyone.”
If this were true, I would expect for insurance companies to cover birth control because it would increase their margins and, in return, increase shareholder value. What else is going on here that would discourage them from doing so?
“Please note, that I didn’t even mention abortion since McCain is also prolife and god knows what he’d do with the Supreme Court and Roe v Wade.”
I agree that we should leave this one aside
I’m genuinely interested in the insurance issues.
July 22, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Hey Ashley-
On this point:
“4) It should also be noted that it is problematic that men, who generally make more than women, have all their medical needs covered, no matter how frivoulous, and women are not treated that way.”
That seems like a rough generalization to make; is this somewhat true across the board of health issues, or are you deriving this from the Viagra example specifically? Has any work actually been done on this?
-Rob
July 26, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Not all insurance plans cover costs related to pregnancy either. Thus, if you are an insurance company that is not covering pregnancy/childbirth, then the justification that covering birth control pills may save costs from pregnancy doesn’t apply.