Low-Income Women's Access to Family Planning

Virginia provides increased access to reproductive health care services through a Section 1115 family planning waiver.  The waiver allows the state to cover family planning services for all men and women with incomes at or below 133% of the federal poverty level and for women who would otherwise lose coverage postpartum.  

Beneficiaries of family planning coverage available through the waiver are not required to pay premiums or co-payments for covered services.  Covered services include: family planning office visits, laboratory visits for family planning, education and counseling, FDA-approved prescription and over-the-counter contraceptives, diaphragms, contraceptive injectables, contraceptive implants, and sterilizations.

The waiver will expire on Sept. 30, 2010.

Plan First: Va.'s Family Planning Services Program Provider Fact Sheet, Va. Dept. of Medical Assistance at http://www.dmas.virginia.gov/downloads/pdfs/ch-planfirst_prov_facts.pdf (last visted Dec. 5, 2008); NARAL Pro-Choice America Survey of State Medicaid Offices