Contraceptive Coverage for All: EPICC Act is Prescription for Women’s Equality

2) The laws do not contain loopholes that weaken them and discriminate against women by permitting employers or health insurance plans to refuse coverage based on a religious view that their employees do not necessarily share.

Contraceptive Equity Addresses Women’s Health Care Needs

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• Women of reproductive age spend 68% more than men on out-of-pocket health care costs, largely on reproductive health care services. Contraceptive equity laws can help bridge that spending gap.
  

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• Two-thirds of U.S women of childbearing age rely on private, employer-related plans for their health coverage, yet 49% of large group plans do not routinely cover any contraceptive method.
  

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• Only 15% of large group plans cover the five most common reversible forms of contraception-oral contraceptives, diaphragms, Depo Provera, IUDs and Norplant.

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• The fact is that the medical community defines pregnancy as the point at which the fertilized egg has attached itself to the uterine lining. The Pill and IUDs actually prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation, fertilization of the egg, or implantation in the womb.

Health insurers have maintained that contraceptive equity legislation will drive up the cost of health care coverage.

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• According to one estimate, a sexually active woman who does not use contraception over the course of five years will experience 4.25 unintended pregnancies, costing upwards of $14,500 for a private insurer. This expense is significantly greater than the costs associated with any form of contraception.

State Proposals Parallel Federal EPICC Legislation

Increased attention to women’s health care heightened interest in The Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act (EPICC), sponsored in 2005 by U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) and sixteen co-sponsors

Despite having been introduced in 1997, 1999, 2001 and again in 2005, EPICC has not become law, however.