President Obama created quite a stir when he mandated the birth control coverage. Regardless if you like this position or not, it is important to understand how this increases your premium, and your overall health insurance costs. Within the last month we have seen many carriers doing increases on new applicants who currently take birth control. In 2011 these increases were never seen, but now the carriers must cover a range of birth control products, and some of them can be very expensive.
Before President Obama’s mandate most policies did cover birth control, but now all policies have to cover this service. If you follow the money, one will see the prescription drug companies have the most to gain from this. Woman who have been on birth control for a long time know there are 100’s if not 1000’s of birth control products. Many are generic and very affordable, but many others are brand name and very expensive, some cost insurance companies up to $100 per a month. By mandating coverage on these drugs the cost of policies is once again on the rise.
One thing woman can actively do is only take generic birth control pills. In the long run this will keep your medical records more favorable to the health insurance companies. If they see you only take an inexpensive generic medication, your coverage will remain more affordable in the future. Mother’s with teenage daughters getting on birth control should have their daughter take a generic medication to help preserve her medical record.