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Regional Journalism

Inslee Signs 12-Month Birth Control Refill Bill Following Oregon Lead

Sarah C
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Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill Tuesday that requires insurance companies to cover a 12-month refill of birth control prescriptions.

A crowd of women in pink Planned Parenthood T-shirts surrounded Washington Gov. Jay Inslee Tuesday morning as he signed a bill to improve access to birth control.

The same law took effect in Oregon last year. It requires insurance companies to cover a 12-month refill of birth control prescriptions instead of making women go to the pharmacy every month.

"This commonsense bill will make it more convenient to refill certain prescriptions and to consistently take doses,” Inslee said.

The measure the governor signed easily passed the Washington Legislature.

When the new state law takes effect next January, any health plan that includes contraceptive coverage must reimburse for a 12-month supply, unless the patient requests a smaller prescription.

Now semi-retired, Tom Banse covered national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports and human interest stories from across the Northwest. He reported from well known and out–of–the–way places in the region where important, amusing, touching, or outrageous events unfolded. Tom's stories can be found online and were heard on-air during "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on NPR stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.