In the midst of a national debate regarding contraceptive coverage mandate, a new survey shows that nearly seven in 10 Americans want health plans to have required coverage for birth control medication.
In the "Attitudes About Mandated Coverage of Birth Control Medication and Other Health Benefits in a US National Sample" which was published in the journal JAMA on April 22, researchers from the University of Michigan conducted a survey on whether or not all health plans in the United States should be mandated to have birth control coverage.
Of the 3500 individuals from all over the country that the researchers involved in the survey, about 2,100 responded to the questionnaire which asked the respondents' opinion on whether or not they want all health plans in the U.S. to be required to provide coverage for services such as birth control medications, mental health care, dental care, mammograms and colonoscopies, tests for diabetes and high cholesterol, and vaccinations.
The results of the survey showed that 69 percent of the respondents are rooting for required coverage for birth control medications and support for such coverage appears to be highest among respondents with apparent need for affordable birth control medications such as women, Hispanic and black respondents.
The researchers also noted that the small number of respondents who did not support coverage for birth control medication were those who were unlikely to use and benefit from such coverage such as older respondents, men and those who do not have children younger than 18 years old.
Mandated coverage for other services received high levels of support as well. Required coverage for vaccination and mammograms and colonoscopies, for example, received more support than coverage for contraceptives with about 85 percent of the respondents' support. Required coverage for mental health care, tests for diabetes and high cholesterol, and dental care, on the other hand, received 75 percent support.
"In this study, the majority of participants supported universal coverage of birth control medications, as well as mandated coverage of several other services. These results are similar to prior polls describing support for the contraceptive coverage mandate among 61% to 66% of US adults," study author Michelle Moniz, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, University of Michigan, and her colleagues wrote.
