Paulette Lenert, Minister of Health and future Deputy Prime Minister;
Credit: SIP / Yves Kortum
On Friday 20 January 2023, Luxembourg's Ministry of Health, together with the Ministry of Social Security, confirmed that the government's cabinet (governing council) approved the draft Grand-Ducal regulation governing preventive medicine and universal access to contraceptives across the Grand Duchy.
The contraception programme was formalised in a new agreement concluded between the state and the National Health Fund (CNS) and provides for access to, and reimbursement on medical prescription of, safe and reliable means of contraception - without age limit and without distinction according to the mode or method of contraception.
“Free access to contraceptives for all, without age limit, will allow each and everyone to freely choose, in consultation with their attending physician, without necessarily having had a medical indication, the method of contraception that best suits them" stated Paulette Lenert, Luxembourg's Minister of Health.
Currently a limited list of contraceptives is reimbursed at 80%, on prescription, to females under the age of 30, in Luxembourg.
After the entry into force of the Grand-Ducal regulation of the agreement, the following means of contraception will be reimbursed:
- oral estrogen-progestogens for contraceptive use (contraceptive pill);
- transdermal estrogen-progestogens for contraceptive use (contraceptive patch);
- vaginal estrogen-progestogens for contraceptive use (contraceptive ring);
- oral progestins for contraceptive use (mini-pill);
- injectable progestogens for contraceptive use (contraceptive injection);
- hormonal emergency contraception (morning-after pill);
- progestins for contraceptive use in the form of a subcutaneous implant (contraceptive implant);
- intrauterine device for contraceptive purposes (IUD);
- tubal ligation for permanent contraception (sterilisation);
- intervention on the vas deferens for permanent male contraception (vasectomy).
In addition, in case of emergency, a medical prescription is not required for the reimbursement of the morning-after pill in a pharmacy open to the public.
“Free universal access to means of contraception is thus introduced without age or method limits,” stated Claude Haagen, Minister of Social Security.
