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Nearly every woman in America has used some method of contraception at some point in her life (the nonpartisan Guttmacher Institute puts that number at 98 percent). But many women haven't been able to use them as consistently as they'd like, or as recommended. Consistent usage can be expensive: Brand-name versions of birth control pills, the patch or the ring can cost more than $60 a month if paid entirely out of pocket. The initial costs of an IUD (preferred by many couples who already have children) are even more intimidating: The medical exam, the IUD, the insertion of the device and the follow-up visits can range from $500 to $1,000.

Last week, the Institute of Medicine, a leading medical advisory panel, recommended that all insurers be required to cover FDA-approved contraceptives for women free of charge—that is, no co-pays or deductibles required. This is part of a set of eight empowering recommendations that also include free preventative services like screening for gestational diabetes and lactation counseling and equipment to promote breast-feeding (for example, rentals of breast pumps that would otherwise cost hundreds of dollars). You can read about all of the IOM's recommendations on the organization's website.

The next step is for the Department of Health and Human Services to review the IOM's report and make the final decision. Although the DHHS could act within the next few weeks, the earliest we'd see this affect our insurance plans (and our pocketbooks) would be January 2013.