Effects of State Contraceptive Insurance Mandates

State Prescription Contraception Insurance Mandates: Effects on Unintended Births

“…State prescription contraceptive coverage mandates are defined as state regulations requiring that insurers cover FDA‐approved contraceptive methods if any other prescription drugs are covered. State mandates and their timing (Table ) were identified through a review of reports from the Guttmacher Institute, the National Conference of State Legislators, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and prior studies (Center for Reproductive Rights ; National Conference of State Legislators ; Raissian and Lopoo ; Guttmacher Institute ; Mulligan ; Dills and Grecu ).…”

“…Mulligan () found that state mandates increased the likelihood of contraception use among all women by 2.1 percentage points and the use of hormonal birth control by 1.8 percentage points, while decreasing state abortion rates by about 3 percent. Dills and Grecu () found that state mandates had no effect on overall birth rates, but decreased the birth rate among Hispanic teens by 4 percent. Because these studies included all women ages 18–44, regardless of insurance coverage, they likely underestimate the effect of mandates on privately insured women exposed to the mandate.…”

“…Raissian and Lopoo () did not find an overall effect of state mandates on contraception use but found an increase in use among women of low‐educational attainment. While prior studies have investigated birth and abortion rates, they have not measured intendedness (Mulligan ; Dills and Grecu ).…”

“…; Magnusson et al. ; Atkins and Bradford ; Raissian and Lopoo ; Mulligan ; Dills and Grecu ). No studies, however, have analyzed the effects of state contraception coverage mandates on unintended pregnancy or unintended birth.…”

The Effects of Young Adult‐dependent Coverage And contraception Mandates on Young Women

“…Research on state‐level YAD mandates (e.g., Levine, McKnight, and Heep ; Monheit et al ) focuses on insurance coverage . In contrast, research on CMs primarily focuses on sexual activity and contraception use (Atkins and Bradford ; Magnusson et al ; Raissian and Lopoo ) and birth and abortion rates (Dills and Cotet‐Grecu ; Mulligan ). Possible effects on insurance coverage or on more general health‐care utilization and health outcomes that may arise out of the complementary consumption of health services have been mostly ignored .…”