Do you think that women should have their birth control covered by insurance – without co-pays?  Would you support something that would reduce unintended pregnancies?

I support all those things and so does the Institute ofMedicine.  Their report is recommending that birth control without co-pays be included in a series of recommendations to the US Department of Health and Human Services.

According to HealthDay “That is one of eight recommendations in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report that looks to expand preventive services for women under the 2010 law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The report was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to identify “gaps in preventive services for
women as well as measures that will further ensure women’s health and well-being,” the agency said.

“This report provides a road map for improving the health and well-being of women,” committee chair Linda Rosenstock, dean of
the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a statement. “The eight services we identified are necessary to support women’s optimal health and well-being. Each recommendation stands on a foundation of evidence supporting its effectiveness.”

The new recommendations were based on a review of guidelinesand the effectiveness of various preventive services, the committee said. By adding birth control to the list of recommendations,the committee said it hopes to reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies, which make up almost half of all pregnancies in the United States.

To read the whole article, go to http://health.msn.com/health-topics/sexual-health/birth-control/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100275380&GT1=31036.