Birth Control Bill Could Save College Students Money

Measure restores incentive to discount birth control pills

President Barack Obama has overturned many Bush administration policies, and he continued that tradition with his most recent budget bill.

The bill Obama signed Wednesday contains a provision that reinstates an incentive that the Bush administration ended at the beginning of 2007. The financial incentive encourages pharmaceutical companies to sell drugs at deep discounts to some health care providers, including college clinics.

Previous price increases

The policy change in 2007 meant the discounts counted against pharmaceutical companies in a formula that calculates the rebates they owe the states to participate in Medicaid. At that point, the drug makers stopped offering the discounts. Prices on birth control pills at college clinics shot up.

Women who were used to paying $10 for the pills saw prices jump to the $30 to $50 range. Someone who was out of cash and running out of pills might have had to take out a a payday loan with pills at $50 a month.

Choices, choices

Whether the companies want to reinstate the discounts is up to them. However, it’s likely that many will chose to offer the price reductions again because of the financial incentive. Drug makers also enjoy the benefit of attracting young women to their products, many of whom continue to use their products for years.

Saving cash

An estimated 39 percent of female college students in the United States use birth control pills. If those discounts are offered again, many of those students will save a big chunk of money when the pill prices fall back to $10 or so. If drug makers have incentives to sell products at a reduced price to college clinics, those clinics generally pass their savings along to the students.

Victory for low-income

College health officials and birth control advocates are already celebrating.

In a statement, Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Cecile Richards called the legislation “a victory for women’s health and especially for women who have struggled to afford the rising costs of basic contraception in these tough economic times.”