{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/senator-murkowski-joins-colleagues-reintroduces-bipartisan-bill-to-ensure-no-cost-contraception-coverage-for-all-women", "Senator Murkowski joins Colleagues Reintroduces Bipartisan Bill to Ensure No-Cost Contraception Coverage for All Women", "2025-12-18", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "AK", "Lisa Murkowski", "M001153", "www.murkowski.senate.gov", "murkowski", "https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/press-releases?PageNum_rs=3", "scraper", "Washington, DC \u2014 U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Susan Collins (R-ME) reintroduced a bipartisan bill to help ensure that all women have full access to no-cost contraception coverage. Currently, private insurance plans and Medicaid are required to cover all types of contraception, such as oral contraception and IUD insertion, at no cost to the patient. However, gaps in coverage remain and affect many women in the Granite State and across the country. The?Closing the Contraception Coverage Gap Act?seeks to close these remaining gaps and ensure that all women can access the best form of contraception for them without a copay or other out-of-pocket costs.\n\nThis bipartisan bill would require Medicare to also cover contraception at no cost to the patient, closing a known gap in contraception coverage for young and middle-aged women who experience long-term disabilities. Approximately one million women aged 20 - 49 rely on Medicare for their health coverage, which they are most often eligible for because of a long-term disability. The bill would additionally direct the Government Accountability Office to identify any remaining gaps in contraception coverage as well.\n\n\u201cWomen with disabilities shouldn\u2019t face greater barriers to contraception than anyone else,\u201d said Senator Murkowski. \u201cWhile Medicaid and private insurance already guarantee no-cost access to birth control, Medicare still leaves too many women without the same coverage. This bill would fix that by ensuring Medicare covers contraception at no cost to patients, removing a long overdue barrier to access contraception.\u201d\n\n\u201cEvery woman deserves access to the health care that she needs, and this bipartisan bill seeks to help ensure that all women can access no-cost contraception under all insurance plans,\u201d?said Senator Hassan. \u201cThis bill will close a gap that has prevented women from accessing coverage for contraception and help ensure that there are no other gaps in this basic form of health care.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no reason that women with disabilities should have a harder time accessing birth control than anyone else,\u201d said Senator Duckworth. \u201cBy requiring Medicare to cover birth control without any cost to patients, our bipartisan bill would make sure all beneficiaries have equal access to birth control. It\u2019s long overdue.\u201d\n\n\u201cUnlike Medicaid and private insurance, which generally cover most FDA-approved contraceptive methods and services without cost to patients, Medicare coverage leaves thousands of women without the same access to these services,\u201d said Senator Collins. \u201cThis bipartisan bill would require Medicare to cover contraception methods and services at no cost to patients, removing a significant barrier to health care for women who qualify for Medicare because of a long-term disability.\u201d\n\nThis bill has been endorsed by leading reproductive and disability rights groups, including the American Association of People with Disabilities. This legislation has also been endorsed by Upstream, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, National Women\u2019s Law Center, National Partnership for Women & Families, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs, Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, New Disabled South, National Council of Jewish Women, and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.\n\nThe full text of the bill can be found here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/senator-murkowski-joins-colleagues-reintroduces-bipartisan-bill-to-ensure-no-cost-contraception-coverage-for-all-women"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8015951607376337, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}