Out-of-Pocket Costs for Long-Acting Reversible Contraception Among Individuals Enrolled in Employer Sponsored Insurance Plans

Despite the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requiring contraceptives to be covered without cost-sharing, many privately insured long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) users still face out-of-pocket expenses. In this analysis, published in the journal Contraception, KFF’s Linda Li, Brittni Frederiksen, and Alina Salganicoff look at intrauterine device (IUD) and contraceptive implant insertion-related costs among privately insured individuals to better understand why patients are experiencing unexpected expenses for what should be fully covered contraceptive services under the ACA.

Using the 2023 Merative MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounter Database, a national sample of healthcare claims for people enrolled in employer sponsored insurance plans, the researchers estimated out-of-pocket costs for 98,916 IUD and 30,259 implant insertion encounters among females ages 15-49.