The DRA Act = Drastic Results Across College Campuses as the Price for Birth Control Reaches New Heights

As female college students across the nation are returning to their campuses, besides learning who their new roommate will be or how many term papers they will have to write this semester, these women may be in for an even bigger surprise. Unfortunately, many will finally face the alarming truth that the price of their birth control pills have tripled and even quadrupled at many colleges.

The cause for this predicament? Yep – you probably guessed…this is just another example of the irresponsibility of the Bush Administration. To quickly recap, in February 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005, which was created by Congress to limit federal spending. In an effort to slow spending growth in Medicare and Medicaid programs (I know, heaven-forbid our GOP legislators care that this would hurt thousands of people who cannot afford health insurance), the DRA put a limit on the price exemptions that allowed college health centers to offer discounted birth control prices.

Responsible for deciding the regulations to implement the DRA, The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), who, according to the American College Health Association, chose for college health care centers to be excluded from the list of providers who could receive the reduced prices from pharmaceutical manufacturers. This effects student health centers because, due to the DRA, pharmaceutical companies can no longer offer prescriptions at nominal pricing or at a cheaper cost than what they give to Medicare or Medicaid patients. If these companies decide to still offer the lower pricing, they now will have to pay the government the difference in costs. So, as a result of Bush signing this law, it’s the college students who are the ones taking the hit. Although this law was passed last year, many college campuses are just now experiencing the financial impact of the law as college health centers have depleted their stock-piles of contraceptives and are now having to buy them at the higher prices.

The American College Health Association has been trying to bring the consequences of this issue to Congress’ attention since they estimate that 39% of undergraduate women use the pill. Additionally, college students nationwide have been writing letters to senators and signing petitions trying to affect some sort of change. Yet, as we are to expect from the Bush administration, this is just falling on deaf ears.

So, our nation’s leaders have now put college students in the difficult position of having to choose between finding away to afford a $40 - $50 monthly prescription (that used to be around $15) or resorting to using a less expensive over-the-counter contraceptive that tends to be less effective (or perhaps not using birth control at all). It’s a shame to realize that college students are now more likely to get pregnant due to not being able to afford the $20 - $30 increase in monthly expenses. Yet many health-care professionals are expecting just that. Thanks to the Deficit Reduction Act, instead of just having to deal with the normal college pressures of getting good grades and doing well in school, many of our college students will now be facing the very real potential of becoming pregnant, which, in turn, will probably result in the rise of abortion rates for this age demographic. Forgive me if I am mistaken, but isn’t this exactly what our Republican Congress Members wish to avoid? Wouldn’t it be nice, for just once, that President Bush and his equally oblivious lackeys think critically about some of the laws they choose to enact for our country? It just seems that if they actually used their brains (but maybe that’s asking too much??), it would seem obvious that if they want to prevent abortions, then maybe, just maybe, they shouldn’t be restricting birth control prices to responsible people who will use it but now can’t afford to. Just a thought.

These price increases will affect monthly prescriptions of combination birth control pills, mini-pills, the NuvaRing, and Ortho Evra Patch.

Photo Courtesy of Dawn Stacey

• What are your thoughts about this? Have you been affected by this price increase? Please share your thoughts.