Spring Break
Congress increases birth control prices
Marisa McStravick
Issue date: 4/27/07 Section: News
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Practicing safe sex just got more expensive for college students.
The Federal Deficit Reduction Act, which was passed by Congress and signed into law in 2005, has increased prices for prescription contraceptives at student health centers across the nation. The act prevents Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from allowing universities to purchase hormonal birth control at discounted prices, as they had been able to do in the past.
Prior to the DRA, drug companies were able to sell contraceptives to clinics such as college student health centers and Planned Parenthood at little or no cost. However, now that the law has changed, college health centers and other organizations are forced to charge their patients more for contraceptives.
The act will not greatly affect Drexel students according to Barbara Rideout, the nurse practitioner at Drexel's Student Health Center. Although the student health center offers exams, they do not provide birth control. Instead, students interested in receiving prescriptive contraceptives are referred to outside sources such as the Women's Health Center and Planned Parenthood.
"We don't offer low-cost birth control because we have so many resources within the Drexel system like the women's health center to send students," said Rideout.
Most of the students using birth control that Rideout sees either pay out of pocket or have a prescription plan that pays partial, but both will be affected by the new act she said.
Rideout suggested that individuals purchasing the contraceptive should switch to a less expensive generic brand, which is what most health centers have done.
"Generic brands costs much less and are just as effective," she said.
Many female college students depend on their school's health center for contraceptives such as birth control, and according to a recent survey on the American College Health Association's website, approximately 39 percent of undergraduate women use oral contraceptives.
The Federal Deficit Reduction Act, which was passed by Congress and signed into law in 2005, has increased prices for prescription contraceptives at student health centers across the nation. The act prevents Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from allowing universities to purchase hormonal birth control at discounted prices, as they had been able to do in the past.
Prior to the DRA, drug companies were able to sell contraceptives to clinics such as college student health centers and Planned Parenthood at little or no cost. However, now that the law has changed, college health centers and other organizations are forced to charge their patients more for contraceptives.
The act will not greatly affect Drexel students according to Barbara Rideout, the nurse practitioner at Drexel's Student Health Center. Although the student health center offers exams, they do not provide birth control. Instead, students interested in receiving prescriptive contraceptives are referred to outside sources such as the Women's Health Center and Planned Parenthood.
"We don't offer low-cost birth control because we have so many resources within the Drexel system like the women's health center to send students," said Rideout.
Most of the students using birth control that Rideout sees either pay out of pocket or have a prescription plan that pays partial, but both will be affected by the new act she said.
Rideout suggested that individuals purchasing the contraceptive should switch to a less expensive generic brand, which is what most health centers have done.
"Generic brands costs much less and are just as effective," she said.
Many female college students depend on their school's health center for contraceptives such as birth control, and according to a recent survey on the American College Health Association's website, approximately 39 percent of undergraduate women use oral contraceptives.
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