Birth control prices rising throughout the country and Lyndon State

3/13/08

By Jennifer Ingram
Critic Staff

There are millions of college students that are facing the fact that birth control prices are skyrocketing.

Prices for oral contraceptives or birth control pills are nearly doubling at student health centers, the reason being the complex changes in the Medicaid rebate law.

Nationwide students are paying nearly $20 per month for prescriptions that were costing them $10 only a few months ago. Due to the increase, college students are starting to have to make tough choices regarding birth control such as, purchasing cheaper brands of birth control, or all together not using birth control.

When the Deficient Reduction Act went into effect in 2007, one of the downsides was that birth control costs for colleges has skyrocketed. “A case of birth control used to cost $400. It now costs $4000. Students costs used to be $3 a pack and now it’s gone up to $10,” Miriam Simon said.

According to the article, Birth Control Prices Soar on Campuses, about 39 percent of undergraduate women use oral contraceptives, according to an estimate by the American College Health Association based on survey data.

The rising cost of birth control has many health professionals worried. According to the University of Iowa, worries include unintended pregnancies by women who are less likely to consistently take a daily pill.

There are many college health centers that say the increase in birth control prices are threatening the quality of services that they can provide due to the fact that the increase in prices has eaten into their profits that they can make.

Planned Parenthood is planning a nationwide, college awareness protest/ petition-signing event that brings attention to the issue of the increase in cost.