Maryland Just Made Birth Control, Plan B, And Vasectomies Free

1. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed the Contraceptive Equity Act into law Tuesday, May 10th, 2016

Requiring all insurance companies to offer free over-the-counter birth control

2. The act will eliminate most co-pays for over-the-counter methods of birth control, as well as vasectomies for men.

3. Maryland is the 1st state to require **insurance companies** (not tax dollars) to cover emergency contraceptives

Example: the morning-after pill costs between $35 and $60 in most states

4. The act also requires people to obtain up to a six-month supply of birth control at a time

AND eliminates requirements of a prescription for over-the-counter birth control, and ends pre-approval requirements for long-acting reversible contraception such as IUDs.

5. The Affordable Care Act — commonly known as Obamacare — requires all of its insurance plans to offer free birth control

But many insurance plans only cover a certain type of birth control which may have negative side effects for certain women and not others, while ones that work for them are not covered

6. The Maryland Contraceptive Equity Act, passed with lobbying help from Planned Parenthood, is designed to push these requirements to all insurance providers state-wide

7. The Maryland law will go into effect Jan. 1, 2018, which will allow time for insurers to prepare for the 2017 open-enrollment season.

8. Other states, such as California, Colorado, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, have passed similar contraceptive equity laws

Though many of them do not include vasectomies or the morning-after pill.

Thanks Maryland! Nice work!

H/T Buzzfeed

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