Ninety percent of employee insurance plans already cover birth control and it's obvious why: research shows that paying for contraception saves taxpayers $3.74 for every $1 invested. It turns out the Pill is way cheaper to society than a baby a mom can't afford. As the president of Planned Parenthood told me earlier this year, "Family planning is the smartest investment the federal government can make, so I think they should just be dropping it out of airplanes and it should be free for every woman."
Oregon has pretty kickass coverage birth control coverage. The federal government has a special Medicaid program that matches state contributions to family planning, but the way it's administered state-by-state varies. I've acquired birth control in four states and personally found Oregon to be the best (an expert agrees!) for a couple reasons: there's a lot of clinics (and a birth-control-by-mail system for rural folks), plus the federal program covers 90 percent of birth control costs for low-income Oregon residents who have proof of citizenship. With birth control costing $10-50 a month, federal or private health insurance subsidies makes the different between a planned pregnancy and accidental babymakin'.
