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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Women's Rights / The War On Women / It’s a Feature Not a Bug

It’s a Feature Not a Bug

by @heymistermix.com|  January 11, 20149:48 am| 57 Comments

This post is in: The War On Women

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FACT: The price of mammograms and contraception: $0. #GetCovered: pic.twitter.com/izxEkiHvJx

— OFA TruthTeam (@OFATruthTeam) January 10, 2014

Nice to see the Obama Truth Team reminding us of the obvious: unless your an 80 year-old celibate / pedophile / pedophile-enabling Bishop, or Ted Cruz, free contraception is a good thing.

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57Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    January 11, 2014 at 9:53 am

    That’s huge. Good to see.

  2. 2.

    Aji

    January 11, 2014 at 9:56 am

    This alone will bring non-political women to our side. In droves. I suspect it will bring more than a few from the other side, too, once they realize that their supposed partisan allies are doing their damnedest to keep them from getting either. The trouble is, they won’t admit it.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    January 11, 2014 at 9:58 am

    Obamacare should have included free condoms. Incentivize all those young dudes to join.

  4. 4.

    raven

    January 11, 2014 at 10:00 am

    What’s this “out of pocket” bullshit? You pay for it or you don’t.

  5. 5.

    CarolDuhart2

    January 11, 2014 at 10:05 am

    @raven: Oral contraception and medical devices have a copay depending on your insurer. A lot of folks had trouble coming up with the copay. And BTW, the exam is now free too…now there’s no copay.

    BTW, I agree with you on both vascectomies and at least a 50% discount on condoms. Men can use a break too.

  6. 6.

    Ash Can

    January 11, 2014 at 10:05 am

    @Baud: Somehow I have the impression that a lot of the young dudes who have the sense to use condoms will also have the sense to get insurance.

    ETA: Not that I think that free condoms aren’t a good idea.

  7. 7.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    January 11, 2014 at 10:06 am

    Free contraception is EXTRA GOOD for Ted Cruz.

    If only his parents had had that benefit.

  8. 8.

    raven

    January 11, 2014 at 10:08 am

    @CarolDuhart2: I got that, I guess I hate that phrase because it’s used on so many sleazy TV ads.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    January 11, 2014 at 10:10 am

    @Ash Can:

    I don’t know why they’re not free, even voluntarily. Would seem to be a good deal for the insurance company.

  10. 10.

    Cacti

    January 11, 2014 at 10:11 am

    free contraception is a good thing.

    No way.

    Hobby Lobby and the Little Sisters of the Poor should decide what healthcare options are available to the rest of us.

  11. 11.

    Shortstop

    January 11, 2014 at 10:15 am

    Talk me down, y’all. Is it wrong to be bugged by the term “free contraception”? The right has had a field day with that simply because they refuse to see birth control as healthcare and thus yammer on about taxpayers funding other people’s sexytimes.

    I like the phrase “100% covered” because it puts contraception into the same camp as any other treatment your physician provides that doesn’t have a copay. Am I, as I suspect, getting caught in wonky weeds that don’t make any difference to average healthcare consumers?

  12. 12.

    dpm (dread pirate mistermix)

    January 11, 2014 at 10:20 am

    @Shortstop:

    Talk me down, y’all. Is it wrong to be bugged by the term “free contraception”?

    Perhaps but that’s not the phrase used in this message, because it isn’t “free”, it’s “covered”. Huge difference – young women are buying insurance that will likely be little used (because they’re healthy) except for contraception and regular checkups for preventative care (e.g., pap smears). It’s ridiculous that they should pay out of pocket for contraceptives when you consider that most of them will pay in more than they get back from their insurance plans.

  13. 13.

    Ash Can

    January 11, 2014 at 10:21 am

    @Baud: I agree with you. I recall that, back in the day, contraceptives for women were covered by my employer-provided policies, and it made all the sense in the world — naturally, the insurers would prefer to cover contraceptives rather than pregnancies and births (with the kids then added to the policies on top of that). In light of this, I was simply laughing out loud at the anti-ACA assholes who had their pants in a bunch over forcing the poor, poor insurance companies to take on the back-breaking expense of covering…contraceptives. Because the alternative is just so much cheaper, don’tcha know. Some people just don’t care if they expose themselves as complete morons for all the world to see.

    Regarding condoms, I can see the reasoning for covering women’s contraceptives and not bothering with condoms because women’s contraceptives tend to involve pharmaceuticals, invasive procedures, or both, which makes them significantly costlier. Nevertheless, in an ideal world, condoms would be covered too.

  14. 14.

    Aji

    January 11, 2014 at 10:23 am

    @Shortstop: “100% covered” does not have the same effect on their target market for this as “free.” I’m beyond positive that they debated, at length, whether to use the term free or not, and decided that it served this particular goal far more effectively – i.e., getting younger women to understand that it’s a feature, and thus availing themselves of the ACA . . . and then becoming outspoken proponents of it in their own circles.

    Using “free” seems like a gimme to the other side, but you know what? They’re going to take “100% covered” and scream from the rooftops that what that means is “free sex for those sluts!” anyway, so I imagine the folks working on this decided that they might as well do it in such a way as to get some return from it.

  15. 15.

    phoebes-in-santa fe

    January 11, 2014 at 10:23 am

    You might want to change the “your” to “you’re” in the second to last sentence.

  16. 16.

    Corner Stone

    January 11, 2014 at 10:25 am

    MHP has Ron Christie on who just made the explicit argument that what was going on with Gov Christie is exactly like all the scandals President Obama is involved in and has not been forthcoming on.

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    January 11, 2014 at 10:26 am

    I agree that condoms should be covered. They’re disease preventative as well as contraceptive. And covering them helps teach responsibility.

    Besides which: young women on the pill, diaphragm or IUD still have no protection against STDs. Condoms help there.

  18. 18.

    Shortstop

    January 11, 2014 at 10:26 am

    @dpm (dread pirate mistermix): But I wasn’t talking about the message; I was talking about the wording in the rest of your post, the comments in this thread and in every venue in which we talk about this issue, really. Maybe it doesn’t matter; the right’s going to say what the right’s going to say and anyone with working ovaries is going to know the real score.

    Anyway, you don’t have to sell me on the benefits of this new coverage requirement, honest. ;)

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    January 11, 2014 at 10:28 am

    I’m thinking too, of the right trying to co-opt the condoms/contraceptives coverage. They would put out an ad with a condom turned water balloon with “Obamacare” logo and say — see — this is what your tax dollars are funding.

    Which would still get the word out that Obamacare/ACA covers contraception. (And fun!)

    So wank away, Republicans.

  20. 20.

    JGabriel

    January 11, 2014 at 10:31 am

    mistermix @ top:

    … unless your an 80 year-old celibate / pedophile / pedophile-enabling Bishop, or Ted Cruz, free contraception is a good thing.

    Honestly I think free contraception would be a good thing for Ted Cruz too, though, if need be, I’m willing to pay to prevent him procreating any more than he already has.

  21. 21.

    RaflW

    January 11, 2014 at 10:32 am

    I’m splitting hairs, but the image and tweet at the top never use the word free. Yes, they say cost: $0 in the tweet which is damn close.

    But in the ad, the main point is (wether you like the phrase or not) “never pay out of pocket” which I think most people who are not raving barefoot-pregnanters will grasp that you’ve already paid for the contraceptives via your premiums. Which is not, in fact, the same thing as free.*

    I mean, when I get my $5 blood pressure pills, I’m not thinking that’s the total cost to manufacture, ship, have handled by a pharmacists, etc. But I do grock that I pay $300/mo for insurance so that I can, among other things, have that BP pill for pennies a day.

    The Frank Luntz memo party will still go nuts over this. But maybe OFA wants them to. Meep meep.

    *Occasionally when driving past some hotel I want to go in and just help myself to the free breakfast advertised on the marquee. I think they assume people get that it’s “included breakfast” with your room charge. But the billboards and signs do frequently say free.

  22. 22.

    Elizabelle

    January 11, 2014 at 10:33 am

    @Aji:

    The trouble is, they won’t admit it.

    True that. I have two staunchly Republican friends, lovely people otherwise, who are both extremely unhealthy (mostly genetics, coupled with habit — horrible diets) and absolutely uninsurable at an affordable cost. Expensive, expensive, expensive.

    Their options have improved, and the wife was telling me she wished ACA let the daughters stay on the family’s policy even longer, until 28 or 30 or who knows. I pointed out that getting coverage up to age 26 was an Obamacare improvement.

    She did not want to hear it. And has shut up about insurance ever since.

  23. 23.

    amk

    January 11, 2014 at 10:38 am

    @CarolDuhart2:

    Men can use a break too.

    No, we don’t. Defeats the very purpose.

  24. 24.

    Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill

    January 11, 2014 at 10:40 am

    In theory, yes, condoms should be covered (no pun intended), too.

    Yet, there’s a whole industry that’s driven down pricing on condoms, to the point that nearly every gas station has a pack for a buck or two. Most metros have a few places to get condoms for free. This is in sharp contrast to every form of contraception available to women; I don’t think there is one woman can get w/o a prescription, for starters.

    I personally take the stand that contraception, no matter your gender, should be covered and made as easily available as is safe. But given the wide gap between contraception availability/cost between genders, I think the right fight was fought, and won.

  25. 25.

    RaflW

    January 11, 2014 at 10:40 am

    @Corner Stone:
    Twitter moron Dinesh D’Sousa was all hot and bothered yesterday because the NYT, by his vaunted estimation, was paying more attention to Christie than it did to IRS-Benghazi-WTFelse.

    They really are desperate and utterly stupid.

  26. 26.

    Aji

    January 11, 2014 at 10:42 am

    @Elizabelle: Reality bites, eh? It always does. That well-known liberal bias.

  27. 27.

    Just One More Canuck

    January 11, 2014 at 10:43 am

    @Corner Stone: Who’s Ron Christie? Is there a reason I should care what he says?

  28. 28.

    Roger Moore

    January 11, 2014 at 10:44 am

    @JGabriel:

    Honestly I think free contraception would be a good thing for Ted Cruz too

    Too late; he’s born already.

  29. 29.

    CarolDuhart2

    January 11, 2014 at 10:45 am

    @Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill: But having them covered by insurance could be one way of insuring that men also get preventative checkups and have a general discussion about men’s health in general. Plus, not having to pay even a minimum fee would get more men to actually use them consistently instead of saying they just can’t afford it right now.

    And why can'[t a man get a free vasectomy?

  30. 30.

    rda909

    January 11, 2014 at 10:45 am

    @Corner Stone: Lemme guess…MHP let that go unchallenged and maybe even supported that story? The times I’ve seen that one trotted out at other places, not one time has anyone pointed out that the “Obama scandals” were not scandals or true in any way. Complete Republican/media fabrications.

    Yet even the supposed “liberal” commentators like MHP keep letting the lie spread unchallenged.

  31. 31.

    Shortstop

    January 11, 2014 at 10:45 am

    @RaflW:

    I mean, when I get my $5 blood pressure pills, I’m not thinking that’s the total cost to manufacture, ship, have handled by a pharmacists, etc. But I do grock that I pay $300/mo for insurance so that I can, among other things, have that BP pill for pennies a day.

    Yes, exactly. I haven’t been expressing myself clearly here, but my point is that we don’t go around saying we’re paying for people’s free insulin or free blood thinner or free antiinflammatories. The right has been somewhat successfully portraying this as taxpayers funding others’ immoral choices, obscuring the point that those people have already paid with their insurance premiums. But we don’t talk about either the “free” status or the “morality” of other prescriptions covered by insurance.

    Again, maybe it doesn’t matter. I agree that the ad is effective for its target audience, and maybe it’s not such a big issue what we say elsewhere.

  32. 32.

    CarolDuhart2

    January 11, 2014 at 10:47 am

    @Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill: But having them covered by insurance could be one way of insuring that men also get preventative checkups and have a general discussion about men’s health in general. Plus, not having to pay even a minimum fee would get more men to actually use them consistently instead of saying they just can’t afford it right now.

    And why can’t a man get a free vasectomy?

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    January 11, 2014 at 10:52 am

    @Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill:

    I don’t think there is one woman can get w/o a prescription, for starters.

    There are a few that women can get without prescriptions, including female condoms, spermicides, and the sponge (which is back in production). There was also the big deal about Plan B being made over the counter.

  34. 34.

    Shortstop

    January 11, 2014 at 10:58 am

    @Roger Moore: The sponge is back? Eliminating the time-consuming and heartrending evaluations of worthiness?

    ETA: For several years, I see! Not sure how I managed to miss that.

  35. 35.

    WereBear

    January 11, 2014 at 11:09 am

    free contraception is a good thing.

    Unless you are one of the Freaky Fetus Folk.

    Yes, shouldn’t preventing unwanted pregnancies be a GOOD thing? Not to them! And thus, their true motivation is laid bare:

    They want to torture others to please their god and get them into heaven.

    And it makes me wonder just what kind of a place that “heaven” is like.

  36. 36.

    Debbie(aussie)

    January 11, 2014 at 11:18 am

    Are mens prostate screenings under a similar umbrella?

  37. 37.

    CarolDuhart2

    January 11, 2014 at 11:25 am

    @WereBear: No, I think it’s two things:

    1. Butts in the pews. Someone has to replace current churchgoers with new ones. Childless singles don’t go quite as often, especially if young. Parents send their children to church for some moral guidance and for the activities.

    2) There’s a racial sub-context to this stuff. Black and brown women are at-or at least over replacement rates for a lot of reasons. Whites in Europe are at 1.7. Google “Demographic Winter” and you will get a better feel for what I am talking about.

  38. 38.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 11, 2014 at 11:28 am

    @raven: You are paying for the insurance so it isn’t free.

  39. 39.

    Corner Stone

    January 11, 2014 at 11:34 am

    @Just One More Canuck:

    Who’s Ron Christie? Is there a reason I should care what he says?

    He’s Gov Christie’s son.

  40. 40.

    Tripod

    January 11, 2014 at 11:34 am

    The House is busy passing some bullshit about HCRA website security.

    If Obamacare was the GOP’s core issue for the 2014 campaign, it’s collapsing into the political equivalent of Homer muttering “stupid Flanders”.

  41. 41.

    Aji

    January 11, 2014 at 11:34 am

    @WereBear: “Sex is dirty.”

    That is all there is, and all you need to know.

    Trust me, I come from a religious practice that thinks that. When you get right down to it, it all comes back to that. Oh, and the fact that women are the fount of all such evil, because Eve.

  42. 42.

    Corner Stone

    January 11, 2014 at 11:38 am

    @Aji:

    “Sex is dirty.”

    Well, the best is anyway.

  43. 43.

    Just One More Canuck

    January 11, 2014 at 11:43 am

    @Corner Stone: Not according to wiki (assuming you’re not snarking). But again, why should I care what he says?

  44. 44.

    Corner Stone

    January 11, 2014 at 11:45 am

    @Just One More Canuck: Well, since you obviously do know how to use the intertrons then now you know who he is.
    Care or don’t care.

  45. 45.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 11, 2014 at 11:46 am

    @JGabriel:

    Gelding the asshole seems to me to be a more suitable way to accomplish that.

  46. 46.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 11, 2014 at 11:49 am

    @WereBear:

    Sluts need to be punished for their sexytime.

    End of discussion.

  47. 47.

    Aji

    January 11, 2014 at 12:01 pm

    @Corner Stone: Well, yeah. Feature, not bug, etc. But they’re warped, so . . . .

  48. 48.

    Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill

    January 11, 2014 at 12:14 pm

    @CarolDuhart2: And that’s why I say a general argument for all genders to get zero-cost contraceptive coverage is one I can back far better than “free condoms.” I agree with all your points, save the implied one that free condoms, in and of themselves, are a gateway to getting men (or any gender) to talk about our reproductive health. I don’t understand how that helps — but a program to encourage everyone to talk to their doc about these issues can.

    @Roger Moore: Good points, and I’m ashamed I didn’t think of those off-hand. Hell, I even know about the female condom, and didn’t insert that into this (er, so to speak!) Thanks for the correction.

  49. 49.

    YellowJournalism

    January 11, 2014 at 12:23 pm

    @JGabriel:

    Honestly I think free contraception would be a good thing for Ted Cruz too

    I think the closest we will get to a condom being used on Ted Cruz is if someone fills one with water and throws it at Cruz’s gigantic head.

  50. 50.

    Ruckus

    January 11, 2014 at 12:23 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    Really.

    What would this world be without a double standard?

    /snark, just in case it wasn’t clear.

    Maybe we could give it a try for a year or two and see how that works out.

  51. 51.

    Ruckus

    January 11, 2014 at 12:25 pm

    @Aji:
    The old guys needed someone to blame.

  52. 52.

    WereBear

    January 11, 2014 at 12:30 pm

    @Shortstop: Talk me down, y’all. Is it wrong to be bugged by the term “free contraception”? The right has had a field day with that simply because they refuse to see birth control as healthcare and thus yammer on about taxpayers funding other people’s sexytimes.

    I have decided that WHAT the right wing whines about does not matter. Yes, we need to have good phrases for our side. But we cannot let the wingnuts torment us with their reactions, because they will leap on anything, and make things up to complain about, anyway!

  53. 53.

    Belafon

    January 11, 2014 at 12:41 pm

    @rda909: she cut him off after a little bit and said something to the effect of: I see what you did and that was some clever politics, but they are not the same.

  54. 54.

    Aji

    January 11, 2014 at 1:28 pm

    @Ruckus: Of course they did.

  55. 55.

    Jamie

    January 11, 2014 at 1:44 pm

    @Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill:

    Agreed. I can buy a condom in, I think, three stores in a 3 block radius of my home. Women’s options involve men with Ph.Ds, paperwork and all sorts of silliness.

    I would like to live in a world where we aren’t judged on our sex organs, please. I’m a straight white male, educated, top of the pyramid, if you want to look at it that way.

    Fucking stop it. Nobody wins.

  56. 56.

    Lihtox

    January 11, 2014 at 2:18 pm

    It’s a shame vasectomies aren’t covered too, and not just to give guys a price break. Vasectomies are so much simpler and safer than female birth control (based on everything I’ve ever heard, at least) that they should be encouraged wherever possible. It’d be a shame to see a married couple opt for female sterilization over male sterilization because it’s cheaper.

    That being said, I know they had to draw the line somewhere, and I’m very glad that women’s contraception is 100% covered. Remember that for women, contraception isn’t just about sexy fun-times: it’s also a defense against pregnancy in cases of rape.

  57. 57.

    WereBear

    January 11, 2014 at 3:31 pm

    @Aji: True. I swear, Southern Baptists are all about life-force denial.

    This keeps people desperate to have any, even if it is half-assed and church approved.

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