Birth control prices soar on campuses

[wicket]

LINK

Millions of college students are suddenly facing sharply higher prices for birth control, prompting concerns among health officials that some will shift to less preferred contraceptives or stop using them altogether.

Prices for oral contraceptives, or birth control pills, are doubling and tripling at student health centers, the result of a complex change in the Medicaid rebate law that essentially ends an incentive for drug companies to provide deep discounts to colleges.

"It's a tremendous problem for our students because not every student has a platinum card," said Hugh Jessop, executive director of the health center at Indiana University. There, he said, women are paying about $22 per month for prescriptions that cost $10 a few months ago. "Some of our students have two jobs, have children," Jessop said. "To increase this by 100 percent or more overnight, which is what happened, is a huge shock to them and to their system."

At some schools women could see prices rise several hundred dollars per year. About 39 percent of undergraduate women use oral contraceptives, according to an estimate by the American College Health Association based on survey data. Many students could shift to generics but experts said they might still pay twice the previous rate.

"It's terrible, because these are students who are working very hard to pay for their tuition and books at a time when tuition costs are edging up as well," said Linda Lekawski, director of the university health center at Texas A&M, where the old price for birth control pills of about $15 per month is expected to triple. "This is one thing they've been able to benefit from for years."

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. i wonder how much religious riechist pressure had to do with this.

this sucks the big one.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

3. Well, that's one way of not getting pregnant. (n/t)

[notadmblnd]

5. you're bad. Funny, but very very bad

:spank:

[WorseBeforeBetter]

7. No, I'm good! I'm good! :-)

[wicket]

4. Those harlots belong in the kitchen, not in college!

:sarcasm:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. barefoot, no doubt?

How dare wenches, MERE FEMALES, get themselves ejukated?

of course, there are always purity balls.

[Clark2008]

13. Actually, there is a reason pregnant women run around barefoot

The swelling's so bad, we can't fit in our shoes! (7 months along here and having to go on half-day bed rest because of severe swelling. :hi: )

[ChairmanAgnostic]

14. I sit corrected.

:)

[RB TexLa]

15. Thanks for that, I've never been around pregnant women and had always

wondered where that phrase came from.

[wicket]

17. Good luck with your new baby!!!

:hi:

[marmar]

9. Exactly....

If we make tuition and birth control off-the-charts expensive, maybe 'dem thar wimmins will stay in their place - at home!

[wicket]

18. "'dem thar wimmins"

LOL, you sound like Yosemite Sam!

:rofl:

[GreenEyedLefty]

2. Wait until they graduate

Last year, our insurance did not cover hormonal birth control. Now it does, but there is an appallingly high co-pay, which isn't too far from the full retail price. And I refuse to buy generic. Last time I took a generic drug, I broke out in hives. Bleh.

It's funny how I never had any problems with this before 2000.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

8. Yeah, the $5 co-pay seems like such a distant memory.

Now it's $25 v. $48 full retail. I wonder what's an "average" co-pay for Viagra.

[kwyjibo]

10. Mine just went from $10 to $50. Generic is now $18

And I don't have insurance so I can't get it cheaper elsewhere.

[wicket]

11. kick

:kick:

[Sammy Pepys]

12. Looks like lots of people are getting screwed :::Rimshot:::

....

[kineneb]

16. recommend they seek out their local Planned Parenthood office

I seem to remember getting my pills on a sliding scale, but it may have changed. Hubby was unemployed and we had no insurance at the time. The last round of private insurance didn't cover them at all, despite the fact I have had emergency surgery for endometriosis.