World News Korner

Thanks to Obamacare, and despite the recent Hobby Lobby case, there has been a huge increase in the number of women with access to free birth control.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

More than half of privately insured women are getting free birth control under President Barack Obama's health law, a major coverage shift that's likely to advance.

This week the Supreme Court allowed some employers with religious scruples to opt out, but most companies appear to be going in the opposite direction.

Recent data from the IMS Institute document a sharp change during 2013. The share of privately insured women who got their birth control pills without a copayment jumped to 56 percent, from 14 percent in 2012. The law's requirement that most health plans cover birth control as prevention, at no additional cost to women, took full effect in 2013.

The average annual saving for women was $269. "It's a big number," said institute director Michael Kleinrock. The institute is the research arm of IMS Health, a Connecticut-based technology company that uses pharmacy records to track prescription drug sales.

Many medical groups see a strong rationale for free birth control. Contraception can help make a woman's next pregnancy healthier by spacing births far enough apart, generally 18 months to two years. Closely spaced births carry a risk of such problems as prematurity, low birth weight, even autism. And even modest copays for medical care can discourage its use.

"It's one of the most concrete ways that women have seen that the Affordable Care Act is helping them," said Amy Allina, deputy director of the National Women's Health Network, an advocacy that supports the law's requirement.

Damn right is helping women and I hope that they keep that in mind during these next midterm elections.

I have this fantasy of all that could be accomplished if the Democrats not only held onto the Senate but also captured the House.

Yes I know that it is about as likely as Scarlett Johansson showing up at my doorstep telling me that she wants to have my baby, but still a Liberal can dream can't he?

At the very least we need to hang onto the Senate, and hopefully the female vote will be there for Obama like he has been there for the female voter.

Oh, and the guys too of course.

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