Biden proposes rule change that would make OTC contraceptives free

The Biden administration on Monday proposed a rule change that will give women access to free over-the-counter contraceptives.

Administration officials said the proposal would be the "most significant expansion" for women's contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act, which more than 50 million Americans rely on for health insurance.

"We believe that women in every state must have the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions," the president said Monday in a statement. "Including the right to decide if and when to start or grow their family."

If finalized, it would "significantly increase" over-the-counter contraceptive coverage and would allow women for the first time to get OTC contraception at no cost.

The proposed rule change builds on Affordable Care Act requirements that say most private health plans must cover contraception without cost sharing. The White House added it could affect as many as 52 million U.S. women of reproductive age on a private health insurance plan.

On Monday, President Joe Biden called the initiative "a major step" in expanding coverage for "no-cost contraception" under the ACA, also known as "ObamaCare," which he helped implement as vice president under Barack Obama.

But Biden also took direct aim at Congressional Republicans, which was echoed by a Democrat lawmaker on the Hill later in the day.

"Republican politicians have made clear they aren't stopping at overturning Roe and intend to restrict birth control next," Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said Monday afternoon on X.

In Biden's statement, the president said that, since Roe v. Wade's reversal more than two years ago, the GOP has "made clear they want to ban or restrict birth control, defund federal programs that help women access contraception, and repeal the Affordable Care Act."

At least 18 government-approved contraceptives now exist on the U.S. market. It took until the ACA's 2010 passage for contraception to be a requirement for coverage under most insurance plans.

The federal government added on Monday that it's also issuing new guidance to "help ensure that patients can access other preventive services," such as cancer screenings, which must be covered without cost sharing under the law.

According to the White House, the administration so far has lowered coverage costs for health insurance in the marketplace by an average of $800 per year and "more Americans than ever before" have signed up for health insurance through the law.

Last month, the U.S. Treasury revealed that nearly 50M of the more than 345 million people in the U.S. population had so far enrolled in Obamacare since 2014.

"While we fight to protect and expand health care, extremist so-called leaders are attacking reproductive freedom at every turn," Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee and the nation's first woman to serve in the role, said Monday in her own statement.

In January, the Affordable Care Act reached a 20M 'milestone' for new enrollments as the year began. On Monday, the outgoing president called on Congress "to restore reproductive freedom and safeguard the right to contraception once and for all."

This follows other previous Biden administration efforts to expand access of the critical contraceptive care for women. Last year in June, the president signed an executive order to expand free birth control including over-the-counter contraception.

If finalized, the proposed federal rule change will signify the "most significant expansion" of contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act since earlier efforts in 2012.

New Jersey's Pallone, ranking member on the House Energy Committee, added how Biden and Harris' move "defends" against ongoing GOP political attacks on women's reproductive freedom.