Price of pill to rise for students
By LiAnn Ishizuka
April 4, 2007 9:35 p.m.
Due to the increasing cost of participating in Medicaid, many drug companies will no longer sell birth control to colleges at discounted prices, causing the cost of the pill to increase on campus.
As a result of a federal deficit-reduction bill, drug companies must now pay more to participate in Medicaid, the federal health insurance provider for low-income families, said Susan Quillan, chief of clinical services at the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center.
Drug companies have historically sold contraceptives to colleges and universities at significant discounts, but the higher cost of participating in Medicaid has prompted many to halt these discounts, which translates to higher prices for students.
The price of two contraceptives, NuvaRing and Estrostep, will jump immediately at the Ashe Center, from $15 to $30, Quillan said.
She added that for students who are insured through the Student Health Insurance Plan, prescriptions from other health providers such as Planned Parenthood will still be covered.
But the price of other types of contraceptives will remain the same, at least for the moment.
In anticipation of rising prices for birth control, Quillan said the Ashe Center stocked up on two of the most commonly used contraceptive pills.
Desogen and Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo have been stockpiled and will remain at $15 a month, though once the Ashe Center’s supplies run out the price of those drugs will increase as well.
Quillan did not disclose exactly when costs of the two prescriptions will increase, but Kristin Yarris, a graduate student representative on the Student Health Advisory Committee, or SHAC, predicted the increase for these pills could begin as early as fall 2007.
For students directly affected by these new costs, Quillan said the Ashe Center “educates them of their wide array of options.”
These options include condoms, generic contraceptives or different hormonal contraceptives that are still priced at $15 a month.
Buying generic brands of oral contraceptives are already the norm for some students.
Nicole Barbero, a second-year applied mathematics student, said she does not believe it is not worth it to buy brand name birth control pills.
Barbero purchases MonoNessa, a generic drug, through CVS Pharmacy using Coastal TPA, a private health insurance provider.
“I would still pay for the pills because it’s something that controls my period,” Barbero said about possible increases for her prescriptions.
“(But) if I were using the pills because I was sexually active, I would place a lower cap on the pills because I would limit my budget.”
Jenna Murphy, a second-year political science student, pays $15 a month for her prescriptions of Aviane, which she receives in three-month cycles through the Ashe Center.
Murphy said she has been using the birth control pills for health reasons as well as for preventing pregnancy for almost three years and enjoys the convenience of getting prescriptions on campus.
Even if the price of prescriptions increases, Murphy said it would not stop her from using birth control altogether, though she added it might change her habits.
“It would make me consider going to Planned Parenthood instead ““ it might be worth the bus trip,” she said.
But she said the convenience of an on-campus provider might outweigh the price increase for her.
“I think I would have to suck it up and pay,” Murphy said. “(Birth control pills) help me out a lot. It would be worth it for me to keep paying.”
But Yarris said because UCLA recently switched health care providers from Blue Cross of California to United Health Care, premiums could increase, meaning students might end up paying more for birth control even if they purchased it off campus.
“We are dealing with the health market in crisis,” Yarris said, and also contended that the problem of affordable health care is getting worse, not better.
Yarris suggested that students who want to express their concern about the price increases fill out comment cards in the Ashe Center or e-mail representatives from SHAC.
“How to turn these complaints to action or advocating is a real challenge for us,” Yarris said.
But Yarris said price increases are essentially inevitable.
“The cost for health care is coming down the pipe,” she said.
