--- title: 'Obamacare Repeal: What Happens to Birth Control Coverage?' description: While dismantling Obamacare, the GOP-led Senate rejected an amendment that would have required insurance companies cover birth control. authors: - name: Alicia Adamczyk url: https://money.com/author/alicia-adamczyk/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 201 covers: - Insurance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/aliciaadamczyk former_staff: true published: '2017-01-13T16:39:55.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T05:00:16.000Z' section: Insurance tags: - Birth Control - contraception - Health Care - Obamacare - Women's Health word_count: 341 canonical: https://money.com/obamacare-repeal-what-happens-birth-control/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Colorful oral contraceptive pill both 21 and 28 tablets strips.](https://img.money.com/2017/01/170113_birthcontrolaca.jpg) It's looking like women may have to go back to paying out-of-pocket for contraception if Obamacare gets gutted. Senate Republicans took the first step toward repealing the Affordable Care Act during Thursday's "vote-a-rama" -- and while [voting on a budget plan that would help dismantle Obamacare](https://money.com/obamacare-repeal-what-now/), the GOP-controlled Senate rejected an amendment that would have required insurance companies to continue to cover birth control. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand had introduced the [amendment](https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/gillibrand-goes-to-senate-floor-to-stand-against-attempts-to-roll-back-womens-health-care-coverage), aiming to preserve a few ACA provisions tied to women's health: Current rules prohibit insurers from charging women more for coverage based on gender, or using pregnancy as a [pre-existing condition](https://money.com/obamacare-affordable-care-act-repeal-what-happens-preexisting-conditions/) to deny coverage, and require coverage of of birth control, mammograms, and cancer screenings without a co-pay. Republicans voted it down. Of course, Republicans have not presented a replacement plan for Obamacare, so it is impossible to say if birth control will continue to be covered. Until the law is officially repealed -- and there's still a long way to go -- you can still receive prescribed contraceptives without a co-pay. (For more, read [What Women Should Know About Health Care Under Trump](https://money.com/womens-health-care-president-trump/).) Roughly 55 million women now receive contraceptives with no out-of-pocket costs, according to the [National Women's Law Center](https://nwlc.org/resources/the-affordable-care-acts-birth-control-benefit-is-working-for-women/). And birth control costs can be significant: A [2015 study](https://time.com/3948649/birth-control-affordable-care-act/) found that "the ACA is saving the average pill user $255 per year, and the average woman receiving an IUD is saving $248." Indeed, as Money has reported in the past, new [birth control coverage is a key factor](https://money.com/average-prescription-out-of-pocket-costs-decreasing/) driving down average out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs. According to a report from the [Kaiser Family Foundation](http://www.healthsystemtracker.org/insight/examining-high-prescription-drug-spending-for-people-with-employer-sponsored-health-insurance/), "oral contraceptive pills account for 63% of the drop in average out-of-pocket spending on retail drugs since 2012." Some state legislatures, including [New York's](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/11/ny-bill-would-keep-birth-control-free-if-obamacare/), have introduced measures to require insurers to cover birth control with no co-pay if Obamacare is indeed repealed and the benefit is not included in whatever new plan is passed. California, Maryland, Vermont, and Illinois have had similar state laws in place since 2014, according to [Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obamacare-contraception-idUSKBN14W1CD). ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/obamacare-repeal-what-happens-birth-control/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Insurance", "item": "https://money.com/insurance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Health Insurance", "item": "https://money.com/health-insurance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Obamacare Repeal: What Happens to Birth Control Coverage?" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/obamacare-repeal-what-happens-birth-control/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/obamacare-repeal-what-happens-birth-control/", "name": "Obamacare Repeal: What Happens to Birth Control Coverage?", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2017-01-13T16:39:55.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/obamacare-repeal-what-happens-birth-control/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/obamacare-repeal-what-happens-birth-control/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T05:00:16.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Obamacare Repeal: What Happens to Birth Control Coverage?", "articleSection": "Insurance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/01/170113_birthcontrolaca.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1391, "caption": "170113_birthcontrolACA" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alicia Adamczyk", "url": "https://money.com/author/alicia-adamczyk/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/alicia-adamczyk/#author", "image": "https://img.money.com/2016/01/alicia-headshot-2.jpg?quality=85&w=640&h=640&crop=1", "email": "alicia.adamczyk@moneymail.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/aliciaadamczyk" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2017-01-13T16:39:55.000Z", "description": "While dismantling Obamacare, the GOP-led Senate rejected an amendment that would have required insurance companies cover birth control.", "abstract": "While dismantling Obamacare, the GOP-led Senate rejected an amendment that would have required insurance companies cover birth control.", "@id": "https://money.com/obamacare-repeal-what-happens-birth-control/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T05:00:16.000Z", "wordCount": 341, "keywords": [ "Birth Control", "contraception", "Health Care", "Obamacare", "Women's Health" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Insurance", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Health insurance in the United States", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance_in_the_United_States" ] } ] } ] } ```