I’m pro-choice and consider myself a feminist. I’d like contraceptives to be widely available for anyone who wants them, male or female. I have to admit I’m enjoying the political damage the GOP is doing to itself over the issue right now. But how, without sounding selfish, whiny and/or slutty, can anyone demand that Uncle Sam buy contraceptives for them?
Not trying to be snarky. I just don’t get it.
I don’t get it either. I’m also a bit confused over how this issue came to be a big deal recently. Granted, I have heard people complain about it before but I honestly didn’t know it was such a hot button issue.
They aren’t free. They are to be provided as part of all health insurance.
So if you work at the Piggly Wiggly and get insurance, the birth control would be provided by the insurance company. And you and the Piggly Wiggly would pay for it.
If you’re very poor, and can’t afford insurance, the government would pay for insurance and would cover the birth control as a part of that.
The government isn’t providing it for free except for the indigent. That’s just a lie / misdirection that the right is throwing out there.
They’re not free. Even if you don’t pay for your health insurance, it still a part of your compensation.
I’m sure that someone more knowledgeable than myself will be along shortly with a more thorough answer, but my understanding is that your framing of the issue is based on a widely held misconception. There is nothing in the Affordable Care Act which provides for the government to pay for contraceptives. Rather, it requires that insurance companies provide contraception options as part of their basic plans.
In other words, Uncle Sam doesn’t pay for anything, but he makes sure that as long as women are paying for their health insurance, contraception is guaranteed as part of the insurance package.
ETA: Lobohan and Lamar Mundane beat me to the punch.
No one is asking for free contraception. What people are asking is that contraception be a normal part of medical coverage under health insurance plans, the same way other medical treatments are covered. Anyone who claims otherwise is misinformed, or deliberately lying.
Or, in other words, what everyone else already said.
As to the larger question of why contraceptives should be included in health insurance plans, there are a few philosophical reasons that I see get tossed around a lot (“it’s a prescription medication and therefore should be covered by insurance as any other prescription would be” for example) but I think the bottom line is that it saves insurers and employers money. Cite.
Who is demanding contraceptives be free?
It’s all well and good to point out that free contraception isn’t the current goal, but it’s missing an opportunity to make the larger argument. So if nobody else will, I’ll take a swing at that bait.
I think there’s a strong argument to be made that providing contraception serves society’s interests. Unwanted pregnancies have a significant cost, not just for the parents and families, but also in civil support, medical and, frequently, legal services. You also don’t have to look far to find a personal story of someone having to abandon their long-term goals because of a poorly timed childbirth, reducing their long-term contribution to society.
The best way to reduce unwanted pregnancies is to make it easier to obtain effective contraception, and it doesn’t get any easier than to provide it on the taxpayer’s dime. Considering the scale of the social costs, the program will almost certainly be a net gain in the end. Implementing large scale solutions that save society money in the long run while also improving the general quality of life is exactly what government is for.
Because pregnancies and babies cost a hell of a lot more than some condoms or pills.
I agree. Contraceptives are like vaccinations. They’re a preventive against much higher medical expenses. So if you’re paying for any medical expenses, it makes sense to provide preventive treatment at the lowest possible cost.
Contraceptives must be free because Barack Obama or his advisors thought it would be politically advantageous for him to force the big bad insurance companies to provide them for “free” with their coverage.
I’m pretty sure they thought it was intelligent policy.
The fact that conservatives are so moronically against it is a plus, I’ll admit.
First, I don’t care if contraception is covered or not.
Second, although you can argue semantics, everything I’ve heard on the news from CNN to NPR has stated that the contraception is to be free to the policy holder. First it was to be paid by the employer, now it’s to be paid by the insurance company.
Doing some Googling…
USA Today
Bolding mine. Seems like free coverage to me.
Stop the presses! You found examples of the news media stupidly misunderstanding and misrepresenting facts in a story? Wow.
Yes, I demand that my employer provide me with free healthcare. I’m so crazy I also demand that they give me free money too!
THIS ISSUE IS NOT ABOUT FREE CONTRACEPTIVES!
Well put, and it can save a lot of child abuse because of the strain it puts on a family when the child is unwanted. I came from a large unwanted family by parents who believed birth control was a serious sin, and know the kind of life I had growing up. One thing it taught me was never to put my children through what I had to go through. I was lucky enough to leave home at 13 and work my way through high school.I believe it is a greater wrong to bring children into the world that are not wanted, than to use birth control.
The media has been shorthanding this, which only deepens the problem. The contraceptives will be paid for by the insurance company with no co-pay. The entirety of the cost must be covered by the premium. So it’s not free, because you and/or your employer pay a great deal, typically several hundred dollars a month, for your insurance coverage. It’s just provided at no additional out of pocket expense at the place/time it’s dispensed to you.
I think adding to this confusion is that some pharmacies are actually offering certain drugs, typically antibiotics but sometimes also certain diabetes drugs, for free to people who don’t have insurance or a prescription plan.
Anything that costs money out of pocket will be subject to choices. Some people live paycheck to paycheck and if something unexpected comes up, they might forgo “preventative medicine”, which includes contraception.
As pointed out above, the preventative medicine category are things that cost a small amount of money up front and can potentially save a large amount of money later on.
Making those things ‘free’ (paid for within the insurance with no additional out of pocket costs) removes them from contention with other personal costs makes it more likely that people will follow through on them (saving the big money down the road).
We don’t want someone to say – I haven’t had sex in a while, I’ll just go off the pill and save a few bucks so I can buy something for my kid, then meet someone unexpectedly and get pregnant.
We want to prevent abortions, we want to make every pregnancy to be planned, and not subject to contention with other claims on personal spending.
It’s a no brainer really.
TANSTAAFL
Not when insurance is provided as part of a compensation package. I work, I get insurance coverage as compensation for that work. It’s fairly well insulting to imply that my employer is giving me gifts, as though I should be thankful and kiss his metaphorical feet for showering me with his largesse.
This is the insurance equivalent of a minimum wage. An attempt to put a scope around what can be considered adequate insurance as provided by an employer, not allowing it to be a randomized collection of covered services dependent on the whim of the employer.
If the government is providing insurance, due to the person being dirt poor, that insurance should cover an appropriate number of services, and not be limited by what some politician’s church hierarchy says is a good or bad thing for people to do.