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5/28/2026
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Senate approves Sen. Euer bill to protect contraceptive coverage
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STATE HOUSE — The Senate today approved legislation sponsored by Sen. Dawn Euer to ensure contraception remains covered by insurers in Rhode Island, even if the coverage requirements in the Affordable Care Act are overturned.
“The urgent need for this bill has only increased as the years have gone on. When I first introduced this legislation, colleagues questioned why it was necessary, on the grounds that something as essential as birth control would always remain covered,” said Senator Euer. “But in the last few years the opposition to all forms of reproductive rights and health care access has strengthened and polarized, and our federal health policy has grown more and more detached from good science and best medical practices. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the Senate as a whole have repeatedly voted to advance this legislation in past years and I thank again them for recognizing the importance of protecting health care access. Let’s make this the year we enshrine these protections in Rhode Island law before it’s too late.”
Senator Euer’s bill (2026-S 2254) would require health insurers to continue to offer no-cost contraceptives, regardless of what happens on the federal level. Insurers would be required to cover all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive drugs or, when safe and appropriate, their generic equivalents. Coverage for devices and other products, voluntary sterilization procedures, patient education and counseling on contraception and follow-up services would also be required. Patients could not be charged a deductible or copay for any of these services, with an exception for patients with qualifying high-deductible insurance plans. The bill would also require Medicaid to cover a 12-month supply of contraceptives.
Prior to 2010, over 1 in 5 women paid out-of-pocket costs for contraceptives, often comprising an estimated 30 to 44 percent of their total health care spending, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That year, former President Obama signed the ACA, often called Obamacare, into law. The ACA requires health insurers to provide many preventative services, including contraceptives, at no cost to patients. Since then, most Americans have been able to access free contraception, though some religious employers are exempt from providing their employees this coverage.
According to a report from the federal Office of Health Policy, access to no-cost contraceptives improves a variety of women’s health and economic outcomes, including increased wages, reduced rates of entry into poverty and increased rates of entry into professional school or the labor force.
But the ACA has faced over 2,000 legal challenges over the past 14 years. The U.S. Supreme Court weakened the contraceptive coverage requirements of the law twice, in 2014’s Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and in 2020’s Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania. Court cases further challenging the contraceptive coverage requirements are still active in the federal courts.
The bill now goes to the House, where Rep. Karen Alzate (D-Dist. 60, Pawtucket, Central Falls) has introduced companion legislation (2026-H 7323).
For more information, contact:
Tristan Grau, Publicist
State House Room B20
Providence, RI 02903
401.222.4935
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