MENG AND RASKIN URGE MEDICAID DIRECTORS TO EXPAND ACCESS TO MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Reps. Grace Meng (NY-06), a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, and Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, today called for Medicaid to expand coverage of menstrual products.

In a letter they led to the National Association of Medicaid Directors, the lawmakers urged the Directors to expand coverage for menstrual products throughout the country. Medicaid Directors oversee the nation’s Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance (CHIP) programs, which are governed by federal rules but tailored to the needs of each state. The 56 members of the association represent all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. territories.

Meng and Raskin’s letter follows a recently released report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Medicaid’s coverage of menstrual products in states across the country. In 2022, Meng and former House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney requested this report evaluating access to menstrual care products through federally funded programs and institutions, including state Medicaid plans. The report reveals that while states have the option to provide coverage of menstrual products, none of them have chosen to do so.

In their letter the Congressmembers wrote, “Although the Food and Drug Administration classifies and regulates menstrual products as medical devices, Medicaid does not currently cover them as a mandatory or even optional benefit. To change this, we must change federal law. This is why we, along with more than 80 of our colleagues in the House of Representatives, are working to pass the Menstrual Equity for All Act, H.R. 3646, which would amend the Social Security Act to include menstrual products in the list of Medicaid benefits. States currently have the option to provide coverage of menstrual products by including them in demonstration projects or using waiver authority for a period of time…As we work toward the goal of ending disparities in menstrual health, we ask that you continue leveraging contracts with Managed Care Organizations and that you use flexibilities and opportunities afforded to you by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid to provide coverage of menstrual products.” 

Menstrual products are not “personal care” or hygiene products. They are medical devices that are essential to the health and wellbeing of approximately half of our nation’s population who have menstrual cycles throughout their lifetimes. However, in the United States, one quarter of teenagers and one third of adults say they struggle to afford menstrual products, an issue that is commonly known as “period poverty.” Medicaid coverage of menstrual products would be a crucial action to help end period poverty.

A copy of the letter, which was also signed by Reps. Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), and Nydia Velázquez (NY-07) can be viewed here.

Rep. Meng originally introduced the Menstrual Equity for All Act (H.R. 3646) in 2017 as a “whole-of-government approach” to eradicating period poverty, and she continues to push the legislation. The measure would provide funding for schools to offer free menstrual products as well as state and local governments to support free menstrual products programs; ban state sales taxes on menstrual products; require Medicaid to cover the cost of these products; require large employers to provide these products for free in workplaces; require that all facilities give incarcerated individuals and detainees these products at no cost; allow organizations to provide menstrual products to homeless individuals; create a pilot program within the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program for menstrual products; and add community distribution of menstrual products to the Social Services Block Grant Program. The bill is currently pending before several House committees.