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Insurers Push Back on Maine Birth Control Bill

AUGUSTA, Maine - Insurers push back against Maine's new birth control bill, saying the bill's language could prove costly.
 
The Portland Press Herald reports that the bill would help women with birth control prescriptions receive a year's worth of medication. Maine insurers only allow patients to receive up to three months of birth control. Some women are required to refill their prescriptions every month.

Katherine Pelletreau, executive director of the Maine Association of Health Plans, says the bill increases insurance costs by requiring no-cost coverage for all approved contraception. The organizations she represents provide no-cost share coverage for only the types of contraception outlined by the Affordable Care Act.
 
Rep. Joyce McCreight, D-Harpswell, says the bill's purpose is to remove the barrier between women and consistent contraception.