Health Insurance Coverage and Women’s Use of Effective Contraceptives in the United States, 1995-2010

Maria A. Stanfors, Lund University
Josephine Jacobs, Lund University and University of Toronto

The introduction of contraceptive mandates from the 1990s onwards has implied significant changes in what it means to be an insured woman from a contraceptive coverage standpoint. We used data from the 1995 and 2006–2010 cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth NSFG) to explore whether the association between being insured and women’s use of the most effective reversible contraceptives has changed over time. Using multinomial logistic and logistic regressions, we assessed this association in both 1995 and 2006-2010, and then combined data from the 1995 and 2006–2010 cycles. We conducted similar analyses on different sub-groups of women. Our results indicate that the positive association between insurance and the use of more effective contraceptive methods was driven by women under the age of 25. Further, between 1995 and 2010, private insurance became more strongly associated with the use of highly effective contraceptive methods, but only amongst already contracepting women.