Nothing connected with medical services, Rx providing, x rays and lab tests is free. All are subsidized by employers and insureds paying premiums to the health insurance carrier or taxpayers if the non paying patient comes under some government plan. By not charging the woman patient a deductible or co pay, the cost is shifted to others in the plan or the premium payers. “Free” is what slimy politicians call robbing Peter to give Paul a non earned benefit.
People should really push the point that SINGLE MALES (and Females) are now FORCED to pay to cover pregnancy and gynecologic services even if they do not opt for a “family” health-care plan. I hope someone makes note of how much health premiums go up for SINGLE insured plans after this implementation.
That is especially true if the person gets a subsidized health insurance.
But if not, what this REALLY is, is government forcing women to pay for treatment whether they need it or not.
Because suppose you had insurance, and the ONLY thing it covered was contraceptives. Now, you don’t have to “pay” for contraceptives. That means that the insurance company will charge you a yearly fee equal to the yearly cost for contraceptives. So, you essentially pay up front for the drugs, and then you go pick them up monthly, and then the insurance company takes the money you paid and distributes it. Well they collect extra for overhead.
Before, since you had a co-pay, they reasonably would expect that only a percentage of women would use the service, plus those using the service would be paying a percentage based on how much they use the service. If it’s free, they have to assume everybody will use it, and since nobody pays anything it all has to come from the premiums.
It is why insurance companies will sometimes provide free annual checkups. They aren’t free, the cost is built into your premium. THe idea is they FORCE you to pay for an annual physical, and since you are paying, you’ll feel compelled to actually DO the physical, which will save the insurance company money.
But the Obama administration has the media helping sell this lie that people are being given free stuff, rather than the truth that they are being forced to pay for things they never wanted.