The contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act has been a hot-button issue for many companies, with some religious employers fighting the federal government in court for the right to be exempt from parts of it. But for the majority of companies that are complying with the mandate, a new FAQ from the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury offers quite prescriptive guidance on the types of contraceptives plans must offer and pay for, and to whom they must be offered.
Its helpful to get clarification of some of these required preventive services and exactly how theyre structured, says Amy Bergner, managing director, health care and benefits, with consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Its actually a little surprising to me how specific this guidance is and how prescriptive it is. Its getting to a very granular level of exactly what a plan has to cover in this whole area of contraception and testing.
