Current Health Insurance Policies and Family Planning

One problem with today's health insurance system is not all health insurance plans provide coverage for family planning and certain types of birth control. We have experienced this problem first hand in our family and it has resulted in some unnecessary medical problems.

After the birth of our second child my husband and I decided we wanted to take measures that would almost certainly prevent us from getting pregnant again. At twenty-seven and twenty-eight years of age neither of us had ruled out the possibility of another child down the road and permanent pregnancy prevention was not something we were ready to consider. The first form of birth control I tried was the pill. This was not covered by my health insurance provider but the prescription was not that expensive. Unfortunately my body did not tolerate the increased estrogen and I was too high of a stroke risk to continue taking oral birth control medication.

Due to some prior medical issues my doctor recommended I try something called an IUD. A device is placed in the uterus releasing small amounts of hormones directly to the reproductive system in order to prevent pregnancy. He ordered the device from the drug company and said he would call me when it came in to schedule an appointment. A week later we received a call from our doctor's office telling me that our health insurance provider would pay to have an IUD put in but would not pay for the IUD itself. The type of IUD we needed was would cost nearly $1000. With a newborn and a toddler under the age of two this was not money we could justify spending. We decided to go back to using condoms as our main form of birth control and hope for the best.

What bothers me most about our situation is the fact my health insurance provider would be willing to pay for prenatal care, labor, and delivery if I were to become pregnant. My insurance provider would also be willing to pay for an abortion, something I would never consider in a million years. Common sense tells us that it would be much cheaper to prevent a pregnancy than to pay for the care of one that is not planned. Apparently my health insurance provider lacks this particular brand of common sense.

I think that one reform that needs to be made in the current health care system is universal coverage of ANY type of birth control for women of child bearing age.