WASHINGTON, D.C. – The days when college students had access to cheap birth control are coming to a screeching halt, thanks to a new law that caused prices to skyrocket.
For many years, drug companies were able to offer large discounts on contraceptives to university health services, allowing students to pay as little as $15 a month for medications that would sell for $50 anywhere else.
But last year the Deficit Reduction Act was passed, which transferred $39 billion of the government’s money from subsidized student loans to Medicaid. The act requires drug companies to pay Medicaid-related rebates, whose dollar amount is in part determined by the prices they offer to schools. If they offer discounts, the payments increase.
When universities first got wind of the act earlier this year, they immediately purchased several months’ worth of contraceptives before the law would take effect. But now that supplies are starting to dwindle, students will start to feel the strain.
This fall, many college women will be faced with the choice of switching to cheaper, generic brands or using their parents’ insurance to foot the bill, a step that could mean losing valued privacy. Health professionals also say that women who change birth control methods are more likely to stop altogether, leading to unintended pregnancies. Condoms, largely recognized as one of the best ways to prevent sexually transmitted infections, are available for free on many campuses. But experts say their contraceptive success rates are lower than other methods.
