February 2019

Insured but still uncovered: A review of private insurance coverage of abortion care

Ibis Reproductive Health. Insured but still uncovered: A review of private insurance coverage of abortion care. Issued February 2019. 

Insurance coverage of abortion care can increase access to services by reducing out-of-pocket costs, time, and financial stressors related to accessing care. However, access to abortion care has been steadily eroded by a growing number of restrictions on insurance coverage, starting with the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal Medicaid funds from covering abortion services in most cases. As of January 2019, 35 states and Washington, DC, ban the use of Medicaid funds to cover abortion in most circumstances. Restrictions on private insurance coverage have also increased in recent years, with 11 states to date banning all private insurance coverage of abortion, up from five in 2009. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, 26 states passed laws banning the coverage of abortion services through insurance plans on the Health Insurance Marketplaces.

In this brief, we describe existing literature on the use of private health insurance for abortion coverage in the United States, and identify relevant research gaps regarding the use of private insurance for abortion coverage.