Sonfield Adam, Tapales Athena, Jones Rachel K, Finer Lawrence B
Guttmacher Institute, New York, NY 10038, USA.
Guttmacher Institute, New York, NY 10038, USA.
Contraception. 2015 Jan;91(1):44-8. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2014.09.006. Epub 2014 Sep 18.
The Affordable Care Act requires most private health plans to cover contraceptive methods, services and counseling, without any out-of-pocket costs to patients; that requirement took effect for millions of Americans in January 2013.
Data for this study come from a subset of the 1842 women aged 18-39 years who responded to all four waves of a national longitudinal survey. This analysis focuses on the 892 women who had private health insurance and who used a prescription contraceptive method during any of the four study periods. Women were asked about the amount they paid out of pocket in an average month for their method of choice.
Between fall 2012 and spring 2014, the proportion of privately insured women paying zero dollars out of pocket for oral contraceptives increased substantially, from 15% to 67%. Similar changes occurred among privately insured women using injectable contraception, the vaginal ring and the intrauterine device.
The implementation of the federal contraceptive coverage requirement appears to have had a notable impact on the out-of-pocket costs paid by privately insured women, and that impact has increased over time.
This study measures the out-of-pocket costs for women with private insurance prior to the federal contraceptive coverage requirement and after it took effect; in doing so, it highlights areas of progress in eliminating these costs.
《平价医疗法案》要求大多数私人健康保险计划涵盖避孕方法、服务及咨询，且患者无需自掏腰包；该要求于2013年1月对数百万美国人生效。
本研究的数据来自1842名年龄在18 - 39岁的女性子集，她们回应了全国纵向调查的所有四轮调查。本分析聚焦于892名拥有私人健康保险且在四个研究阶段中的任何一个阶段使用过处方避孕方法的女性。研究询问了这些女性每月为其选择的避孕方法自掏腰包的金额。
在2012年秋季至2014年春季期间，为口服避孕药自掏腰包支付零美元的私人保险女性比例大幅上升，从15%增至67%。使用注射用避孕药、阴道环和宫内节育器的私人保险女性也出现了类似变化。
联邦避孕覆盖要求的实施似乎对私人保险女性的自掏腰包费用产生了显著影响，且这种影响随时间推移而增加。
本研究衡量了联邦避孕覆盖要求生效前后私人保险女性的自掏腰包费用；通过这样做，突出了在消除这些费用方面取得进展的领域。
