Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) applauded the decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to include contraception as part of preventative care for women covered by insurance.  This decision will be beneficial to millions of Americans for preventing communicable diseases and eliminating unwanted pregnancies.

The decision to include contraception stems from the Institutes of Medicine’s (IOM) Committee on Preventative Services for Women.  The IOM report recommended coverage of contraception for women.  Last month, Rep. Engel signed a letter to President Barack Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius urging the adoption of the report’s recommendations.

“This decision is a victory for women across the nation, and is one of the many features of the Affordable Care Act which will benefit millions of Americans.  Eliminating unwanted pregnancies, and the complications which arise from them, will be achieved by giving women better access to contraception.  We will also expect a sharp decline in communicable diseases with contraception more readily available.  These issues know no political ideology, and people of all beliefs will benefit from this provision.  In addition, religious employers have been granted various exemptions from contraceptive coverage to honor their beliefs,” said Rep. Engel, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health.

“Unfortunately this does not help the millions of women who do not have medical insurance. This is why I support a single-payer option for medical insurance coverage, which would assure everyone of having coverage for all medical issues,” added Rep. Engel.

These new provisions, including contraception, well-woman visits, domestic violence screening, gestational diabetes, HPV screening and sexually transmitted disease counseling are estimated to help 34 million women between the ages of 18 to 64 by 2013.  Birth control is the most common drug prescribed to women ages 18 to 44, and insurance plans should cover it. Many women have not been using contraception consistently, since they are often unable to pay the $20 to $50 co-pay. 

“This is especially helpful to low-income women who are four times as more likely to have an unwanted pregnancy than her higher-income counterpart.  Four in 10 low-income women have no insurance, and more than 60% are not covered by Medicaid.  States which have included family planning funding under Medicaid have seen a vast reduction in the amount of unwanted pregnancies as a result.  With this plan from HHS, we should now see those results nationwide,” added Rep. Engel.

Also included among the IOM recommendations regarding essential women’s preventative health services is screening for Gestational Diabetes for all pregnant women with a focus for at-risk pregnant women to be screened earlier in their pregnancy.  Rep. Engel and Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX-26) recently re-introduced the Gestational Diabetes Act of 2011 (GEDI), (H.R. 2194) legislation designed to lower the incidence of gestational diabetes and prevent affected women and their children from later developing Type 2 diabetes.

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