People with Medicaid in North Carolina can start getting over-the-counter birth control pills for free this week at hundreds of shops that are taking part.
Beginning Thursday, Medicaid recipients will be able to get the oral conceptive Opill without a prescription at more than 300 retail and business pharmacies in 92 of the state’s 100 counties, according to Gov. Roy Cooper’s office.
The coverage came from a law passed in 2021 that let pharmacists recommend different types of birth control in line with medical rules in each state. Beginning in early 2024, North Carolina Medicaid started to sign up pharmacists to become providers. The state officially announced the Medicaid benefit two weeks ago.
“North Carolina is working to expand access to health care and that includes the freedom to make decisions about family planning,” Cooper said in a release. He talked about the news on Wednesday while he was at a pharmacy in Chapel Hill.
Opill is the first over-the-counter oral contraceptive that has been allowed by the federal government. The governor’s office said that having access to pharmacies could help get rid of cost and access problems that make it hard to get the pills, especially in rural places where there aren’t as many doctors who would normally prescribe the birth control plan. Pharmacies that are signed up with Medicaid will be able to send in requests for reimbursement.
Nearly 3 million people in the state are on Medicaid. 56% of the people who have signed up are women.
Cooper told state health officials about the accomplishment at a public event on Wednesday. At that event, he was asked about Kamala Harris’s trip to North Carolina next week with her yet-to-be-named running mate. Cooper is no longer in the race, so Harris will not be accompanied by Cooper.
“I think she will win in North Carolina.” “I don’t think I’ve seen this much excitement since Obama won in 2008, and North Carolina was a clear winner that year,” Cooper said.
The specifics of Harris’s visit next week have not been made public.
