Does the ACA mandate coverage for vasectomy, and if not, why?

[moriah]

I know it covers tubal ligation, but the issue is that the guy i'm with now doesn't want kids and I may be losing my IUD (lots of bleeding, think Kubrick elevator scene....) soon. I can't do hormones, they do terrible things to my hormonal balance and I've had a hard enough time losing weight. I'm at a healthy weight now despite lots of meds that encourage weight gain, and don't want to risk going clinically hypothyroid again like the last time I was on the Pill. Besides, I'm getting older.

I am undecided on whether or not I want to have kids someday, so I do not want to do a tubal. It'd be covered. A vasectomy, however, we don't know if it would be. I would think it should be fair if they cover tubal ligation for them to also cover vasectomy.

Thanks for any advice.

[Enrique]

1. i imagine every health plan covers vasectomies n/t

[Brickbat]

15. Not every one does. nt

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Google is your friend:

https://www.healthcare.gov/what-are-my-birth-control-benefits/

[moriah]

3. So they aren't required to cover vasectomies? That rather stinks.

I don't know if he enrolled yet, he just lost his job. We'll have to call around and see if the companies cover it despite the fact they aren't required to.

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. A vasectomy is an outpatient procedure performed under local anaesthetic.

Tubal ligation is major surgery under general anaesthetic. So that's probably part of the reason why (that and the fact that there was more concerted attention from advocacy groups to ensure coverage of reproductive health services for women when the bill was being hammered out).

[moriah]

5. My IUD insertion was probably about as complicated, and it cost $5 on my old insurance.

I'm hoping I'll either be able to keep this one or get a new one inserted, but if it's embedded or they don't recommend another... meh.

I'd think they'd want to cover a cheaper surgery.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

7. Birth control pills don't require an anesthetic but their coverage is mandatory.

However, I think your paranthetic statement is probably the more likely reason.

[Spider Jerusalem]

8. Birth control pills are prescription only and may have significant side effects

you can walk into any gas station and get a box of Trojans for less than five bucks.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

9. A vasectomy, even though outpatient, can have complications like any other surgery.

For that reason they must be monitored by a doctor just as birth control pills.

If your statement is that condoms are available and an adequate substitute that advice applies to women as well.

[Spider Jerusalem]

10. There is no male equivalent of the female birth control pill.

So your argument is nonsensical.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

14. You started out by saying vasectomies aren't covered because

they only require a local vs. general anesthesia; presumably arguing lower burden equates to a lower coverage threshold. When I noted BC pills require no anesthesia (an even lower burden) you countered that men can make due with condoms because they're inexpensive and readily available. I noted the same argument applies to women.

How the absence of a male pharmaceutical contraceptive is a rebuttal eludes me; condoms are still cheap, plentiful and require no anesthesia...and you have already endorsed their use.

[Spider Jerusalem]

16. Really, I'd endorse coverage of vasectomies by ACA...

but that would require amendment to the existing law which is probably not politically feasible at present. (The argument that it's somehow sexist that the ACA doesn't cover male contraception is specious, though.)

[pnwmom]

11. I guess the reason is that getting a vasectomy wouldn't reduce men's other health costs

whereas getting a tubal ligation means that the insurer won't have to pay any pregnancy costs down the road.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Our UK NHS covers that

so why wouldn't your ACA.

[HockeyMom]

12. My husband's was done in a doctor's office in 1984

It wasn't free, but it was covered under insurance. There was a small co-pay.

[boston bean]

13. Call your insurance company to see if they cover it. nt

[bettyellen]

17. FYI- There is no such thing as Tubal Ligation on demand for young women- Doctors do not trust women

make this decison very frequently. I tried, and was dismissed by the half dozen different gynos I saw between the ages of 20-32. This was in NYC, not a conservative area.

And, it is not just me.....
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-05-13/health/ct-met-sterilization-denied-20140513_1_tubal-ligation-sterilization-young-women

Heck, most of them refused to giv me an IUD as well, citing possible fertility problems I told them they didn't give a shit about.

Men don't realize we go our whole lives with the potential to be denied meds or treatments because we "might be pregnant" even when we say- we don't want kids, and would abort. Medically, we are treated as potential breeders more than we are as human beings. It is dangerous-not getting optimum care, being forced on unhealthy unwanted hormones for years, and it is also also pretty fucking insulting.

[dspwilson]

18. Vasectomies not ACA Covered

No, moriah, the ACA does not cover vasectomies. The reason not - discrimination against men in family planning.

Since the ACA, my health insurance went to a high deductible plan - $8000 out of pocket before any benefits start. Cheapest vasectomy I found in my city is $1500 through Planned Parenthood, which has only a few clinics that serve men so I would have to travel. And I would have to pay the full cost. Too expensive and much too limited. My wife will stay on hormones. We cannot afford the cost.

You women should speak up more for men to have equal access to reproductive health.