|
|
March 25, 2007: There has been a sharp
rise in the price of oral contraceptives, or birth
control pills, for college students in the United
States.
This is worrying health officials as they fear
that some students will opt for less effective
contraceptive methods or use no birth control
devices at all.
The cost of birth control pills at student health
centers has double or even tripled following a
change in the Medicaid rebate law that abolishes
an incentive for drug makers to offer significant
discounts to colleges. At some colleges, students
may have to pay several hundred dollars more a
year for birth control pills.
About 39% of undergraduate women use birth control
pills, according to the American College Health
Association. And, the association is lobbying the
US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to
change the new Medicaid rebate law to keep birth
control pill prices low for college students.
It is a tremendous problem for our students
because not every student has a platinum card,
says Hugh Jessop, executive director of the health
centre at Indiana University. He said women are
paying about $22 a month for prescriptions that
cost $10 a few months ago.
The huge rise in prices of contraceptive pills is
the result of a chain reaction started by the
deficit-reduction Bill of 2005 that focused on
Medicaid, the main federal health insurance
program for the poor. College health officials say
they had little idea that the Bill would affect
them.
Before the change, pharmaceutical companies used
to sell drugs at deep discounts to a range of
health care providers, including colleges. With
contraceptives, one motivation was attracting
customers who would stay with their products for
years.
The 2005 Bill, which took effect in January 2007,
changed the whole scene. Now if the drug
manufacturers have to give the discount to
colleges, they have to pay more to participate in
Medicaid. The result is that fewer companies are
willing to offer discounts.
Many colleges kept prices low for a few months by
buying in bulk before the new law took effect, but
have now run out of stocks and started increasing
prices.
The price hike will definitely have an effect on
students, according to Lindsay Hicks of Sexual
Health Awareness Peer Educator at Kansas State
University, where she said prices were rising from
about $10 to about $30 a month.
BY OUR PHARMA CORRESPONDENT
|
