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Birth control not cheap at college
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
College students will continue to see price hikes for prescription birth control at their campus health clinics this fall in the wake of new federal pricing rules issued last week.
The decision from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services applies the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which removed incentives for drug companies to provide deep discounts on birth control to college health clinics.
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The decision mostly affects college health clinics with their own pharmacies, where prices for prescription contraceptives have doubled and tripled since drug companies stopped the discounts.
Some college health officials worry that students will switch to less reliable, cheaper birth control, use pills that aren't necessarily the best for their bodies, or simply stop using it.
At Wright State University, the price for name-brand and generic birth control pills jumped from $7 — its price since 2000 — to $30 for name-brands and $17 for generics. The NuvaRing, a hormonal vaginal contraceptive popular with students, jumped from $7 to the market price of $45.
At Miami University, birth control pills jumped from $10 to $20, and the NuvaRing from $12 to $43.
"This is an injustice to these students, who are a low-income population," said Wendy McGonigal, WSU student health services director.
At Wittenberg University, a private university which does not have its own pharmacy, students tend to opt for generics at about $20 a month.
"Just about every student says they don't want their parents to know so they are paying out of their pockets" instead of using their parents' insurance, said Eryn Smith, a registered nurse in Wittenberg's clinic.
