Medicaid Expansion and Contraceptive Use Among Female High-School Students

Access to effective contraception prevents unintended pregnancies among sexually active female youth. Potentially impacted by the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid-related policies, contraception use increased among sexually active high-school students from 2013 to 2019.

Analyses conducted in 2021 assessed state-level Youth Risk Behavior Survey data among female students in grades 9-12 who reported being sexually active. States that expanded Medicaid were compared with other states in 2013 (baseline) and 2019 (after expansion). Measured outcomes included self-reported use of moderately effective or highly effective, long-acting reversible contraception at last sex. Long-acting reversible contraception included intrauterine devices and implants. Moderately effective contraception included birth control pills, injectables, patches, or rings. Results were weighted and adjusted for age and race/ethnicity.

Students in Medicaid expansion states (n=27,564) did not differ significantly from those in nonexpansion states (n=6,048) at baseline or after expansion with respect to age, age at first sex, or the number of sexual partners in the past 3 months; however, race/ethnicity population characteristics changed over time. Postexpansion increased use of intrauterine devices/implants was greater in Medicaid expansion states than in nonexpansion states (238.1% increase vs 120.0% increase, adjusted p=0.047). For those aged 16-17 years, Medicaid expansion states had a 283.3% increase in intrauterine device/implant use compared with an increase of 69.7% in nonexpansion states (adjusted p=0.004).

Medicaid expansion was associated with a greater population-level increase in intrauterine device/implant use among sexually active female high-school students aged 16-17 years. These findings point to the possibility that the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid-related policies played a role in young women's use of intrauterine devices/implants.