Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed the Contraceptive Equity Act into law Tuesday, which requires all insurance companies to offer free over-the-counter birth control.
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The act would eliminate most co-pays for any over-the-counter methods of birth control for insured Maryland residents, as well as vasectomies for men.
Maryland is the first state to require insurance companies to cover emergency contraceptives such as the morning-after pill, which cost between $35 and $60 in most states.
The act also requires people to obtain up to a 6-month supply of birth control at a time and eliminates requirements of a prescription for over-the-counter birth control and eliminates pre-approval requirements for long-acting reversible contraception such as IUDs.
The Affordable Care Act – commonly known as Obamacare – requires all its insurance plans to offer free birth control, but many insurance plans, such as those provided to employees by religious organizations, have escape these requirements.
The Maryland Contraceptive Equity Act, passed with lobbying help from Planned Parenthood, is designed to push these requirements to all insurance providers state-wide.
"Maryland is on the forefront across the board with this act," said Karen Nelson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Maryland.
Other states, such as California, Colorado, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, to name a few have passed similar contraceptive equity laws, though many of them do not include vasectomies or the morning-after pill and maintain exceptions for religious organizations.
The National Women's Law Center has a full list of state-by-state contraceptive equity laws and what they apply to.
The Maryland law will go into effect January 1, 2018, which will allow time for insurers to prepare for the 2017 open-enrollment season.
Read Planned Parenthood's summary of the bill here:
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