College Health Officials Hopeful About Birth Control Discounts

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 21 Mar 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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Birth control on college campuses soon could become less expensive because of a provision in the fiscal year 2009 federal budget bill President Obama signed recently, the Kansas City Star reports. The provision will reinstate incentives for pharmaceutical companies to discount contraceptives, which was lost when Medicaid reimbursement rules were changed under a deficit reduction law. Drug companies will not be required to offer the discounts, and schools will have to negotiate the prices, according to the Star.

Mary Hoban, a spokesperson for the American College Health Association, which pushed for the discounts, said, "We are very excited about this, but we don't know what will happen because so far the manufacturers have been quiet in this." She added, "But they were doing it before, so I'm hopeful they will reinstate the discounts." About 40% of women in college are taking birth control pills, the association estimates.

College women were paying about $5 monthly for contraceptives with the discounts, according to the Star. The University of Missouri-Kansas City reports that when the discounts ended, some college students changed their prescriptions to generic brands, which cost about $15 monthly at the school's pharmacy. The pharmacy currently fills about 60 prescriptions for birth control monthly -- about half the amount of when the discounts were in place (Rose Williams, Kansas City Star, 3/18).

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