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Condoms, other over-the-counter birth control methods should be fully covered by insurance, White House says
Washington — People with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter birth control methods like condoms, the “morning after” pill and birth control pills for free under a rule the White House proposed Monday.
Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including birth control or even condoms that doctors have issued a prescription for. But the new rule would expand that coverage, enabling millions of people on private health insurance to pick up free condoms, birth control pills or “morning after” pills from local storefronts without a prescription.
The proposal comes days before Election Day, as Vice President Harris affixes her presidential campaign to a promise of expanding women’s health care access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to undo nationwide abortion rights two years ago. Harris has sought to craft a distinct contrast from her Republican challenger, Donald Trump, who appointed some of the justices who issued that ruling.
“Today’s announcement builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s strong record of defending access to reproductive health care and commitment to ensuring that women have the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions, including if and when to start or grow their family,” Jennifer Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said in a statement.
Klein said the administration “is taking bold action to expand coverage of contraception for the 52 million women of reproductive age with private health insurance.”
The emergency contraceptives that people on private insurance would be able to access without costs include levonorgestrel, a pill that needs to be taken immediately after sex to prevent pregnancy and is more commonly known by the brand name “Plan B.”
Without a doctor’s prescription, women may pay as much as $50 for a pack of the pills. And women who delay buying the medication in order to get a doctor’s prescription could jeopardize the pill’s effectiveness, since it’s most likely to prevent a pregnancy within 72 hours after sex.
If implemented, the new rule would also require insurers to fully bear the cost of the once-a-day Opill, a new over-the-counter birth control pill that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved last year. A one-month supply of the pills costs $20.
Federal mandates for private health insurance to cover contraceptive care were first introduced with the Affordable Care Act, which required plans to pick up the cost of FDA-approved birth control that had been prescribed by a doctor as a preventative service.
The proposed rule expands on that mandate.
It’s being proposed by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury and would come into effect in 2025 if finalized, the Reuters news agency reports.
It wouldn’t impact people on Medicaid, the insurance program for the poorest Americans. States are largely left to design their own rules around Medicaid coverage for contraception, and few cover over-the-counter methods like Plan B or condoms.
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Israel says 7 citizens caught spying for Iran after sharing info that could “aid enemy missile attacks”
Jerusalem — Israeli police on Monday said they had arrested seven Israeli citizens accused of being a spy network gathering information on Israel’s military bases and energy infrastructure for Iranian intelligence.
The internal security agency and police “successfully dismantled a spy network involving seven Israeli citizens who were operating on behalf of Iranian intelligence,” the police said in a statement, adding that all seven had been arrested. The seven Israelis were from the city of Haifa and other northern areas of the country.
“This network was engaged in gathering sensitive information on IDF (military) bases and energy infrastructure,” it said.
Israeli investigations had revealed that the group carried out several missions under the direction of two Iranian agents known as “Alkhan and Orkhan” over a period of two years, the police said.
“The network members were aware that the intelligence they provided compromised national security and could potentially aid enemy missile attacks,” the police said. “The network conducted extensive reconnaissance missions on IDF bases nationwide, focusing on air force and navy installations, ports, Iron Dome system locations, and energy infrastructure such as the Hadera power plant.”
AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty
It added that the group received hundreds of thousands of dollars for the work, often through crypto-currency payments.
The work often involved photographing and documenting strategic sites, with the collected data being handed over to Iranian agents, the police said.
“The investigation led to seizure of substantial materials compiled by the network members for Iranian agents,” an official from Israel’s internal security agency was quoted as saying in the police statement.
“These included photographs and videos of numerous IDF bases across Israel, ports, and energy infrastructure. It is assessed that these activities have inflicted security damage on the state,” the police said.
Members of the group were also tasked with collecting intelligence on several Israeli citizens at the behest of the Iranian agents, it said.
Monday’s announcement comes just weeks after Israeli police said they had arrested an Israeli on suspicion of having been recruited by Iran to plot the assassination of top officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Over the weekend, Israeli officials said the Iran-backed group Hezbollah had targeted Netanyahu’s private residence in central Israel with a drone attack, but he and his wife were not home at the time, and there were no casualties. Israeli officials did not link the attack to the alleged Iranian espionage efforts.
Israeli media identified the man accused in the assassination plot as Mordechai Maman of the coastal city of Ashkelon. Maman was a businessman who lived in Turkey and had visited Iran, police said at the time.
Israel is currently engaged in a multi-front conflict with Iran-backed groups including Hezbollah, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Fighting on all those fronts was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, which saw militants murder some 1,200 people and take 251 others back into Gaza as hostages.
The war in Gaza alone has killed more than 42,000 people, according to the decimated Palestinian enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry, while Lebanese officials say a month of relentless Israeli airstrikes and ground operations has killed almost 2,000 people and displaced some 1.2 million from their homes.
Israel has also vowed to retaliate over a missile attack launched by Iran on October 1.
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