New Mexico Medicaid to cover over-the-counter contraception and pregnancy tests

Opill is the first daily birth control approved for sale without a prescription in the U.S. Sales of the product started in March and it is now covered by Medicaid plans in New Mexico. (Photo Illustration by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

New Mexicans covered by Medicaid will now have free access to a new contraceptive pill, pregnancy tests and emergency contraception, according to an announcement by the Human Services Department.

Earlier this month, the first oral contraceptive available in the U.S. without a prescription went on sale nationwide, after being approved by the FDA for use without prescription last year.

Now, the product, called Opill, will be available to Medicaid customers in New Mexico. The HSD has collaborated with the state Department of Health to provide pharmacists standing orders to ensure timely, free access to the new pill.

Chief Medical Officer for the New Mexico Medicaid program Alanna Dancis said people should go to the pharmacy counter with the new pill, rather than straight to the cashier as with other medications.

Since the Supreme Court abolished the federal right to an abortion, the number of procedures performed in New Mexico has more than tripled as surrounding states have restricted abortion access. Dancis said it is not just abortion that is important.

“The direction has certainly been for us to be trying to expand reproductive access as much as possible, including better access to contraception,” she said.

Dancis adds people covered by Medicaid will also now be able to get free pregnancy tests and emergency contraception without a prescription, also by taking the product to the pharmacy counter.

More than a third of New Mexicans are covered by Medicaid.

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