THANK YOU for highlighting the findings of the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy report on students’ health plans (“Report blasts student health plans,’’ Metro, Nov. 6). Allowing health plans targeted at young adults to include exclusions or limitations on outpatient services or to provide limited prescription drug coverage may discourage young adults from seeking preventive health care. This may also disproportionately affect young women and their access to contraceptive services. Women in their 20s account for over half of all unintended pregnancies in the United States. But access to the Pill and other prescription-only methods of pregnancy prevention is undermined by the structure of young adult-targeted health plans.
Research from Ibis Reproductive Health indicates that many young adults are unaware of their plan exclusions and are unable to enroll in affordable alternatives. Health plans targeted at this population should be required to disclose, in transparent, accessible, and youth-friendly ways, all departures from the minimum coverage standards set for other plans as part of Massachusetts health care reform. We also recommend that the state take measures to adequately provide contraceptive services to underinsured young adults.
Dr. Angel M. Foster
Britt Wahlin
Cambridge
Foster is senior associate and Wahlin is director of development and communications at Ibis Reproductive Health.
