Birth Control Matters is an effort to make no-cost prescription birth control available so that all women can use the method that works best for them and to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies.

Affordable prescription birth control is an essential part of health care for millions of women.  The average woman spends 30 years of her life trying to avoid getting pregnant. More than one-third of women voters in America have struggled with the cost of prescription birth control at some point in their lives, and, as a result, have used birth control inconsistently.

Making birth control available at no cost is the single most important step we can take to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies.

The new health care reform law represents the single biggest opportunity to advance women’s health in 45 years.  To make this opportunity a reality, the law must require health plans to provide prescription birth control to women with no co-pays, as part of the prevention provision.  This would be a huge step forward for America – and especially for the many of women in this nation who cannot afford to pay for prescription contraception.

The time has come to provide birth control at no cost to every woman who wants it.

Help us raise one million voices for no-cost birth control. Sign the petition.

How will healthcare reform affect my family?

Click here to join: http://healthcareforamericanow.org/page/s/march9dc

Fortunately for the American people, it looks like we may now have an opportunity to revive the public option.  In recent weeks, 34 senators and 120 members of the House have signed letters asking Congress to pass a public option through ‘reconciliation’ — a procedure that just requires a majority vote in the Senate.  Polls consistently show that the majority of Americans want the public option (59% to 29% in the latest New York Times poll) and that support extends across party lines (80% of Democrats, 59% of Independents, and even 33% of Republicans).  Besides being popular with the American people, the public option is the best option on the table to curb the skyrocketing health care costs that are putting so much strain on the budgets of American families and small businesses.  The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the various public option proposals in the House would save at least $25 billion without adding a dime to the national debt.  Just as importantly, a public option would create competition in our health insurance market.  If consumers were dissatisfied with the prices or service offered by private insurers, they’d have another choice.  We need the public option to help keep the insurance companies in check.

There are several petitions circulating now to demonstrate citizen support for the public option.  If you agree that the public option is vital to meaningful health care reform, please take a moment to sign:

http://bit.ly/c6rC9d

and

http://bit.ly/aKkqAi

• Eliminate preexisting condition exclusions and waiting periods for individuals in every health insurance market no later than 2013;
• Create and adequately fund a transitional high-risk pool until preexisting conditions and waiting periods are eliminated entirely;
• Completely eliminate annual, monthly, and lifetime limits on coverage, whether on dollar value, services or disease specific; and
• Cap out-of-pocket spending so that health insurance coverage is affordable for all patients.