AptKeysBody · Preventive care
Birth control and STI testing, privately
Birth control and STI testing are routine care. Most plans cover birth control without a copay at in-network providers. Title X clinics are confidential and serve you regardless of ability to pay, and you can ask your insurer to send paperwork to you, not to a parent.
You'll need
- Your ZIP code
- Your insurance card, if you're using it
- A private phone number or email for results
What to know
- Find testing near you. Search by ZIP at gettested.cdc.gov. If you're not comfortable talking to your regular provider, many clinics offer confidential and free or low-cost testing.
- Know what's covered. Marketplace plans and many others must cover preventive services without a copay, including HIV screening for everyone 15 to 65 and syphilis screening for adults at higher risk, plus chlamydia screening for younger women and gonorrhea screening for women at higher risk.
- Birth control: Marketplace plans must cover FDA-approved methods and counseling for women, as prescribed, without a copay or coinsurance from an in-network provider, even before you meet your deductible.
- Want it kept quiet or can't pay? Look for a Title X family planning clinic. Title X services are voluntary, confidential and provided regardless of ability to pay. They offer birth control, pregnancy testing and STI services.
- On a parent's plan? The insurer usually mails the EOB to the policyholder. You can ask the plan to send your health information to a different address or by a different method. A health plan must agree to a reasonable request if you say that sharing it could endanger you.
- At the visit, be honest about your sexual history and ask which tests you should get. Ask how and when you'll get results, and give a private phone number or email.
- Test positive for something? Get treated, and follow the clinic's advice about telling partners and retesting.
Watch out A religious-employer plan may not cover birth control. Health plans sponsored by certain exempt religious employers, like churches, don't have to cover contraceptive methods and counseling. A Title X clinic is still an option.
Dad note This is health care, same as a checkup. Nobody at the clinic is judging you, and getting tested is the responsible thing.