Since 2006, the price of oral contraceptives has increased by 200 percent on some college campuses. While Congress stalls, sexually active students must decide whether protection is worth the money.
If the price of gasoline went up 200 percent over the span of two years, there would be picketing, petitioning and immense public pressure on legislators to lower the prices.
Yet when something thousands of people rely on every day rose in price exponentially in two years' time, a mere mumble was heard from the public.
In 2005, Congress passed legislation that resulted in college health centers losing discounted pricing on many forms of birth control — the most prominent being oral contraceptives. That's right: the birth control pill.
According to a recent estimate by the American College Health Association, nearly 40 percent of college undergraduate women rely on pills and other forms of prescription birth control to prevent pregnancy and regulate periods.
While some legislators race to lower the pill's price again, health centers and women's health advocates say many women aren't receiving the birth control they need.
What Congress has deemed an "oversight" in its legislation has affected countless women, including many Arizona State University students.
What happened?
For years, college campus health centers received discounted pricing on pharmaceuticals. A Medicaid law provided large incentives for companies to provide discounted rates to clinics that treat low-income women.
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 resulted in changes to the Medicaid law, reducing the incentive for pharmaceutical companies to provide deeply discounted rates for college campus health centers.
The changes, which went into effect Jan. 2006, made it more expensive for pharmaceutical companies to participate in Medicaid. Companies were consequently much less likely to provide discounted pricing, according to MedicalNewsToday.com and the "AP/Chronicle."
Birth control prices increased at college campus health centers nationwide, including ASU's Campus Health Service. It also affected about 400 other community health centers in the country, like Planned Parenthood.
Federally funded clinics like Planned Parenthood and ASU's Campus Health Service stockpiled the pill, knowing prices would rise because of the changes in legislation.
The clinics want to continue providing discounted pricing on the pill for as long as possible, says Bridget Daly, Media and Communication Coordinator for Planned Parenthood Arizona.
"On a local level, we knew this was coming," Daly says. "We stocked up and allocated [Planned Parenthood's] title to health centers in our affiliate, making birth control more affordable to more health centers. That made it cheaper for everyone."
ASU's Campus Health Service also stockpiled the medication to continue selling it to students at the discounted price, according to Dr. Allan Markus, Director of ASU's Campus Health Service.
"We've always had a 'purchase ahead' plan," Markus says. "But [the stockpiled birth control] can only last so long."
With thousands of prescriptions being filled each month and supplies running low, the clinics could only prevent the inevitable for so long.
The result
Many private health insurance companies will cover the cost of monthly birth control pills. But many young college women who are still on their parents' insurance plans don't want to get their parents involved, Daly says.
ASU's Campus Health Service takes most major insurance plans, including, but not limited to, Humana, Blue Cross Blue Shield, HealthNet and United, Markus says.
However, many students are still left to pay the costs on their own because ASU's Campus Health Service does not bill the student's insurance provider for prescription medication, Markus says.
"[ASU's Campus Health Service birth control] costs went up by 200 percent," Markus says. "Some birth control medications we used to charge about $15 per month for are now about $30 to $40 or more per month."
Other forms of birth control, such as a vaginal insert called the NuvaRing, have increased up to 900 percent in some clinics nationwide. A month's supply of the NuvaRing, which used to cost $5, has increased to $50 in some clinics and college health centers around the country, according to AssociatedContent.com.
As a result, it's cheaper for many students to find birth control at community clinics like Planned Parenthood, where the pricing isn't as high as it is on campus, Markus says.
Eric Anger, head pharmacist at ASU's Campus Health Service, says the center filled an average of 1,223 prescriptions per month before the 2005 legislation. Since the price changes, that average has gone down significantly, Anger says.
To compensate, Markus says the ASU's Campus Health Service has switched many of its brand-name birth control medications to generic brands.
"What we've seen more than anything is students shifting from one brand of medication to a more generic brand to afford medication," Markus says.
However, the difference in the composition of generic brands as opposed to brand-name medications has resulted in more side effects, such as nausea and spotting or bleeding in between periods, Markus says.
"There is definitely more quality control in brand-name [birth control] medication," Markus says.
Despite ASU's increased birth control pill pricing, Markus says there has not been an increase in the amount of students coming to the ASU Health Center to receive emergency contraceptives like the morning-after pill.
However, Daly says the effects of heightened birth control pricing remain grim.
"The two main causes of unwanted pregnancy are a lack of public education and lack of access to [affordable] contraception," Daly says.
"We are probably going to see more unintended pregnancies."
'It's really frustrating.'
Journalism senior Samara Link, 30, has been on the birth control pill for 13 years and has experienced the ups and downs of its pricing.
"When I started [taking the birth control pill], it was $5 a month," Link says. "I pay $40 a month now. The price for me has gone up a lot."
When Link first began taking the pill, she went to Planned Parenthood. Because of the rising prescription costs, she now fills her birth control prescription through her personal OB/GYN so she can use her medical insurance to help cover the costs.
Link says she would get her birth control on campus if the price was cheaper.
"It would actually be easier to get it on campus because I wouldn't have to make a special trip to a pharmacist," Link says. "It would be so much easier."
Some students, like undecided freshman Caitlyn Meuse, walk from ASU's campus to cheaper pharmacies like CVS.
"If the prices were lower, I'd get [my birth control] on campus," Meuse says.
But Link, who is married, says she can see why younger students would be even more upset than her.
"It's really frustrating," Link says. "I'm in a monogamous relationship, but if I were buying the birth control pill on top of condoms to prevent STDs, I can see how that would make it even more frustrating."
To Link, the birth control pill is a necessity. She'd rather have her birth control pills instead of buying a new pair of jeans or other luxuries, she says.
She worries younger students will begin using unreliable methods to prevent pregnancy, like "pulling out."
"I can see trying to find a way around paying [the increased prices in birth control]," Link says. "But it's still cheaper to take the pill than to have a baby."
Despite the high risk, Link says students are not going to stop having sex.
"I hope the prices [of birth control] go down because there are people who are going to have sex, and they're going to have sex before they're ready to be parents," Link says. "I don't think that will ever change. We need protection, especially now."
What's next?
The American College Health Association has pressured Congress to amend the 2005 legislation and lower the prices of birth control on college campuses and other federally funded clinics, Markus says.
"We lend our voice," Markus says. "We think it makes a huge difference."
According to an official statement from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the organization has also worked closely with legislators over the past 12 months to help resolve the affordable birth control emergency.
The organization was ultimately unsuccessful in getting the issue amended before Congress closed the 2007 calendar session.
However, the PPFA remains optimistic in its plans for the coming year.
"The Planned Parenthood Federation is trying really hard right now to fix this problem," Daly says.
Many women's health advocates and lawmakers alike are also putting pressure on Capitol Hill to again reduce birth control pricing at clinics that focus on low-income women.
Students can also get involved in the process by writing letters to senators and congressmen in support of lower pricing for birth control. With enough pressure from students and legislators alike, the resolution to this problem could soon become Congress' priority.
Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow called for a solution during the last day of the 2007 calendar session, saying the necessary amendments are invaluable to women's health care.
"For too many families across America, this is an urgent, urgent situation," Stabenow said. "Congress must act now to ensure that birth control pricing is restored this year. Women cannot wait until next session to have this mistake corrected and affordable birth control returned."
