House Finance Public Hearing
DATE: May 15, 2024 at Rise of the House (around 4:30 or 5pm)
Template Testimony
NOTE: your testimony should not be more than 2 minutes long and/or 1 page if you’re testifying in person. Focus on YOUR story or how access to affordable, effective contraception personally impacts you, your family, your community, etc.
For written testimony, you can email written testimony to [email protected] with the subject line: Testimony in support for H7255. Testimony must include: Your name, bill number and viewpoint (for/against/neither).
For verbal testimony, you may testify in person. Sign-up sheets are available outside of the hearing room. After signing up, your name will be called when it is your turn to speak at the podium. Signs, posters, and pictures are not allowed inside the hearing room. Testimony will be heard in Room 35 at the Rhode Island State House (82 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02903).
PLEASE: replace the italics with YOUR OWN WRITING, personal stories matter!
Dear Chair Abney and members of the House Finance Committee,
My name is [your name]. I am from [city or town]. I am [mention your organization or group affiliation, or other appropriate and relevant information].
I am testifying in support of House Bill 7255 (Rep Alzate). This bill updates the existing Rhode Island state law mandating coverage of contraception enacted in 2000 in order to ensure access to all FDA-approved methods, limit insurer restrictions, and to ensure that the no-cost provision for over-the-counter contraception, and alternative therapies for those who need them, are more readily accessible.
Explain why this issue is important to you.
- What is your personal connection to the issue?
- Have you had to pay out of pocket for contraception because your insurance didn’t cover it? How has that impacted you?
- How would this bill help you, your family, your community? Talk about what it would mean to you and Rhode Islanders to have health care coverage that covered all FDA approved forms of contraception.
Use the talking points below to explain why legislators should support the bill and what the bill seeks to accomplish. Please make sure to write comments in your own words in paragraph form - it’s the personal touches that make the testimony more compelling!
Talking Points
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By expanding health coverage and access to birth control to millions, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a game changer for women. Access to contraceptives plays a critical role in improving health outcomes and economic security. The ACA provision requiring coverage of contraceptives without cost-sharing mitigated a major barrier to contraceptive use: cost.
- The no cost birth control benefit of the ACA has given patients the ability to select the right method of birth control for their lives, without weighing their medical options against the cost of care.
- Studies show that the lowered out-of-pocket costs from the ACA contraceptive coverage requirement has improved contraception use and adherence and increased utilization of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), some of the most effective forms of pregnancy prevention.
- Birth control use is nearly universal. Ninety-nine percent of all sexually experienced women and 98% of sexually experienced Catholic women have used it at some point in their lives.
- This bill updates the existing Rhode Island state law that mandates coverage of contraception enacted in 2000. This bill:
- Requires insurance coverage of all FDA-approved contraceptive drugs, devices, and other products; voluntary sterilization; comprehensive contraceptive counseling; and other related services including device insertion and removal;
- Strictly limits the ability of insurers to impose restrictions and delays;
- Requires insurers to cover, under the existing no-cost-share provision, alternative therapeutic options if the covered option in the insured’s plan is not tolerated by the patient or is medically inadvisable.
- Requires coverage of over the counter contraceptives without a prescription; and
- Medicaid coverage for a twelve (12) month supply of contraceptives.
- Why we need this bill:
- Since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, more than 2,000 legal challenges have been filed in state and federal courts contesting part or all of the ACA. In response, in 2024 the Rhode Island General Assembly codified in state law the ACA’s protections for no-cost share preventive services. This was critically important to preserve affordable access to contraception.
- It is also important to update the state’s stand-alone contraception coverage mandate in order to ensure access to all FDA-approved methods, limit insurer restrictions, and to ensure that the no-cost provision for over-the-counter contraception, and alternative therapies for those who need them, are more readily accessible.
- Before the ACA’s birth control benefit went into effect, contraception accounted for 30% to 44% of women’s out-of-pocket health care costs. We won’t go back to an era where women paid more for health care simply because of their gender. Preventive reproductive care — including birth control — is basic health care.
I strongly support passing House Bill 7255 to safeguard this critical ACA health insurance benefit, no copay birth control, and protect it in our state law. Preventive reproductive care — including birth control — is basic health care and everyone needs access to the contraceptive method that is right for their life. This is not just a health issue, it’s an economic issue. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Address]
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