Overall, more than one-third of Washington State births result from unintended pregnancies. The rate is significantly higher for women with Medicaid coverage (51%) than for women not receiving Medicaid (23%). This report summarizes use of Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) among Washington women and teens on Medicaid, including yearly numbers of LARC insertions from 2010-2014, and describes the medical specialty and licensure of practitioners who performed LARC insertions for Medicaid clients and the clinical settings in which LARCs were inserted. Key findings include: more than 100,000 women and teens on Medicaid received LARCs in the past five years, 2010-2014; more than 2,000 medical providers performed LARC insertions for Medicaid clients in 2014; and women on Medicaid receive LARCs in a wide range of clinical practice settings. With the 2014 expansion of Medicaid eligibility through the ACA, the TAKE CHARGE family planning waiver of fifteen years’ duration, and a state-funded program for postpartum family planning coverage for undocumented women, a variety of Medicaid programs provide coverage for contraceptive products and counseling; however, some groups including undocumented women and women who decline to apply for Medicaid have limited access to Medicaid coverage for family planning services.
