Contraceptive care is an integral part of women’s health and family planning. The choice to plan to bear children or not is an important decision, and the outcome can have life changing effects. According to the National Conference of State Legislature, almost half of pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended. Most women nowadays graduate college and are career driven. They would prefer to plan their pregnancies – and this is possible through the use of contraceptives. It is critical to understand your insurance coverage under changes in health care laws, which have pushed to expand women’s’ health care since January 2013 by requiring coverage of certain preventative health services and screenings, including contraception. Despite comprehensive coverage required by law, some employers have the ability to not offer contraceptives.

Required contraceptive care can be bypassed by employer’s plans that have been “grandfathered” in as well as those who opt out due to religious beliefs. Churches and other houses of worship are not required to include birth control coverage to their employees. Non-profit organizations that object to offering birth control because of religious reason may also do so, but women may still have access directly from their insurance company. You may remember the Hobby Lobby controversy, in which the for-profit “family-owned” corporation was able to refuse birth control coverage. In this case the Supreme Court decided that certain “closely-held” for-profit corporations can deny coverage on religious grounds. Figure out what your employer’s insurance plan allows and if it is in accordance with the law.

As mentioned earlier, most insurance plans now allow women to select an option to include contraceptive benefits at no additional cost. If you are sexually active and not looking to have children at this point in your life, (and your employer does not offer this benefit) you may want to talk to you Human Resources Director to see if this benefit can be added for you. Once you are ready to have children, you may talk to your health care provider about discontinuing your contraceptive care.

The bottom line: When you visit your health care provider regarding birth control, be sure you have contraceptive coverage and you should not have to pay a co-pay for your oral contraceptive.