Free Birth Control? Covering Prevention Services for Women

Hour 1

An expert panel for the Institute of Medicine recently released recommendations for improving women’s health.  The Institute identified eight preventive services that could improve women’s lives and that health insurance plans should cover, including contraception, at no cost to the consumer.  The committee also suggested that yearly well visits — as well as screenings for domestic violence, HIV, human papillomavirus, and gestational diabetes — be covered by health care plans.  This hour, we’ll look at the Institute of Medicine recommendations and the link between contraception coverage and women’s health.  We’ll talk with ALINA SALGANICOFF, an Institute of Medicine committee member and Director of Women’s Health Policy for Kaiser Family Foundation, and DEBORAH NELSON, an associate public health professor at Temple University.  We’ll also hear from DEIRDRE McQUADE with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops about the group’s opposition to universal birth control coverage.

Listen to the mp3

Listen:
[audio: 080111_100630.mp3]