Medicaid Covers Essure Procedure

Birth Control has become an intense topic during the past few decades.  No matter what side of the debate you are on, there is some type of controversy.  In response, there are a variety of birth control medications and procedures available to women today. 

In the past, women who wanted or needed an effective method of birth control had few choices.  They could take some form of birth control or they could have what amounted to major surgery.  They could also use an intrauterine device called an IUD.

None of these methods were perfect.  Whenever you are changing the systems in the body there can be a reaction.  All of these birth control procedures had reactions ranging from pain and bleeding to nausea and headaches – plus everything in between.

There is a relatively new procedure available to women.  The Essure procedure has been approved by the FDA since 2002, but until now it has not been covered under Medicaid. 

The Essure procedure is non-invasive, can be done in a doctor’s office and takes only about 10 minutes.  Instead of a hospital stay and a longer recovery time lasting 3 to 6 days, the recovery time is one day, and the procedure is done as an outpatient procedure.

In essence, the Essure procedure is a permanent procedure that replaces tubal ligation for women.  The doctor inserts soft micro-inserts into the fallopian tubes through the cervix.  This blocks the tubes and enables women to discontinue other forms of birth control.  Eventually, the tube grows around the inserts, making this a permanent procedure that is 99.8% effective.  This is the first and only sterilization procedure to have zero pregnancies in the clinical trial.

California is the latest state to embrace the procedure, with 45 other states having done so.  The Essure procedure gives women a safer, permanent choice regarding birth control.

For further information you can check with Medicaid for your state or you can contact the Essure Information Center at 1-877-ESSURE-1 or at www.essure.com on the web.  

Filed under: General-Medicare

Tags: birth control, essure, medicaid, medicaid coverage, permanent non-surgical birth control