Four months have passed since the Deficit Reduction Act raised the prices of birth control at college health centers, and students picking up their prescriptions from Hudson Health Center are beginning to feel its effects.
Some college health officials fear the 3 million undergraduate women who use birth control pills to prevent pregnancy will shift to less reliable contraceptives or will stop using birth control all together because of the rising prices. After an outcry from students and the health centers that serve them, the American College Health Association is trying to change the legislation.
Supplies are running out
While many health centers prepared for the price change by ordering mass quantities of birth control before the federal legislation came into effect, supplies are running out, said Mary Hoban, director of the American College Health Association, a national organization representing almost 900 university health facilities.
At Ohio University, most of the birth control prices at Hudson Health Center's pharmacy have changed, said pharmacist Daniel Hudson. Only Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo 28 and Cyclessa 28 remain at their original $12-per-packet price, but the prices will rise to $20-per-packet when current supplies run out.
Supplies should last another month and a half, Hudson said. Hudson Health Center goes through about 20,000 packets of birth control a year.
New prices at Hudson still are cheaper than the prices at most pharmacies, but the discount is not as good as it used to be, Hudson said.Before the DRA came into effect in January, pharmaceutical companies offered patient packets' oral contraceptives at a reduced price ' to college heath clinics. Under the DRA, continuing to distribute these patient packets would mean pharmaceutical companies would have to pay more to participate in Medicaid. This caused pharmaceuticals to stop offering discounts, leaving college health centers to pay the maximum price reimbursable through Medicare and Medicaid for contraceptives.Organizations such as family planning facilities and state-owned-and-operated nursing facilities are still eligible for discount pricing. College health centers, however, were not included in the list of exemptions. Some college women could see the price of their contraceptives rise several hundred dollars per year, according to a March 23 Associated Press article.
Running out of options
Many OU students are shocked and frustrated by the price increases, Hudson said, but they have no choice but to pay the new price.
What can you do? You've got to have it
he said.
According to a study conducted by the National College Health Assessment, 38 percent of undergraduate women use birth control to prevent pregnancy. This figure does not include students who use birth control for other health reasons.
Betsy Seng, a first-year graduate student in psychology, planned to switch to Hudson from a commercial pharmacy for her birth control, but decided not to when the price rose. She said rising prices cause difficulties for graduate students who live off a stipend and have to budget their money.Megan Weber, a junior political science major, first heard about the price increase from her friends.
While Weber does not get her birth control from Hudson, she said her friends are thinking about using Planned Parenthood health center for contraceptives because they can't afford Hudson's new prices.
Under investigation
The American College Health Association began investigating the DRA in January.After meeting with the Senate Finance Committee that created the bill, ACHA determined that college health centers were not intentionally excluded, Hoban said.
There is a category of the DRA for unspecified entities, according to comments that the ACHA submitted on Feb. 20 to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The ACHA hopes that CMS will add college health centers to this category. The ACHA now has two options: The organization can work with CMS to change the regulation or attempt to legislate a technical correction.
CMS has received many comments from college health centers and the issue is under consideration. A decision about whether to include college health centers as an exemption will be reached this summer, said Mary Kahn, Medicaid spokeswoman at CMS.
While the ACHA awaits the decision, it is exploring legislative options and talking to legislators about the issues, Hoban said.We're staying optimistic and keeping at it she said. We recognize it's not going to be a quick solution but we're not ready to throw in the towel.
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New legislation means women will have to dish out more for their birth control
