Birth control prices have soared on college campuses across the nation.
Prescriptions that were once $15 a month are now reaching up to $50 a month. This rise in price could drastically affect the University in the near future.
“Some people disagree that our prices haven’t been affected. We were affected for a little while and our prices went up, but now prices are back down until our stock runs out,” said Jessica Patanella, who works in the Student Heath Center’s pharmacy.
The Student Health Center carries 12 brands of birth control. Generic birth control such as Apri, generic for Desogen, and TriPrevifem, generic for Ortho Tri Cyclen, are priced at $15. Nuvaring, Yaz and Yasmin run anywhere from $38 to $48 per month, which Patanella said has never changed.
The price of generic birth controls could rise, but Julie Mickelberry, director of public affairs for Baton Rouge Planned Parenthood, said birth control should be affordable. After President George Bush signed legislation to reduce budgets by $39 billion, drug companies could no longer offer discounts through Medicaid. The law passed in January 2007.
“Prior to that date the birth controls sold to health centers were priced much lower than the same product that was sold at local pharmacies. This allowed health center pharmacies to provide birth controls to their student patients at about half the cost of buying them in a retail drug store,” said Hugh Jessop, executive director and chief financial officer at Indiana University health centers, in an e-mail.
Carolyn Lancon, LSU’s Student Health Center’s pharmacy supervisor, said students have voiced their opinions about the rising costs of birth control. She said students have written letters to the American College Health Association, who have lobbied to get the law repealed. So far, they have been unsuccessful.
Mickelberry said she hopes college women will be outraged at the rise in birth control prices. She also hopes they will do something about it, like calling their officials in congress.
Whether women will still buy birth control at the higher prices is yet to be known.
“Sales are definitely down. The impact will be known in January 2008 when birth control purchases can be compared to purchases in prior years,” Jessop said.
Jessop also said some students claim they can’t afford birth control.
“‘Can’t afford’ is an interesting term, because it tends to mean [you] chose something to spend your money on other than pills,” Jessop said.
Pregnancies cost thousands of dollars, and raising a child takes responsibility.
When one can pay less than a dollar a day, birth control doesn’t seem like such a bad idea, Jessop said.
According to the American Public Health Association, no contraceptive is 100 percent effective. If people know they are going to be sexually active they need to take the right precautions. If used properly, condoms are 97 percent effective. Condoms are also an inexpensive form of birth control. They help prevent sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.
Birth control pills are 98 to 99 percent effective when taken properly, according to the American Public Health Association. The pills must be taken daily. Antibiotics also make the pill less effective.
——Contact Jessica Greenfield at [email protected]