 "Photo: Kelly Bobrow")
Students at USC and across the country who seek birth control pills are facing sharp price increases.
The raise is due to an act of Congress that eliminates incentives for pharmaceutical companies to provide discounted drugs to college health centers. In an attempt to reduce the federal deficit, the Congress passed a bill called the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 in January of 2006.
The act cuts Medicare and Medicaid spending over a five-year period and went into effect on Jan. 1, 2007.
Some students may see an increase of several hundred dollars per year, according to a report by CNN.
Deborah Beck, director of Health Services at USC, said the university received very short notice about the price increase. They were not notified until mid-December that the prices would increase.
When the staff found out, Georgann Wilson, a pharmacist at the Thomas Cooper Student Health Center, said there was a mass scrambling to try to stock-up on the pills at the discounted rate.
"We just had to guess how much we were going to use," she said.
Some companies were more helpful than others about allowing the health center to order large amounts of pills quickly, and some prescriptions have a longer shelf life than others, both of which were factors in determining how many of each USC was able to take in at a discount, Wilson said.
So far, USC has only had to raise the price of the NuvaRing from $12 to $36. The pharmacy ran out of these in early February, Wilson said, and had to order additional quantities without a discount from the manufacturer.
The health center's stock of other brands, including Ortho-Tri-Cyclen Lo, Desogen and Cyclessa, are expected to last through early summer, said Beck and Wilson. When the current stock runs out, which will vary depending on demand, the health center will have to order more and this is when students will see the increases on these other brands.
With the exception of Ortho-Tri-Cyclen Lo, for which there is no generic and is expected to cost over $40 a pack when the price increase occurs, generic pills will be an option for some women looking for relief from high prices. Desogen and Cyclessa both currently cost $12 per pack and will go up to over $40 per pack, but their generics will be available for $24, Wilson said.
Julie Steele, a nurse practitioner in the Women's Care Clinic said generic pills are a good option for many women.
"As far as contraceptive efficacy goes there's no difference [between generics and brand names]. However, there is more of a range in the exact concentration of hormones in each pill ... typically there shouldn't be [a difference between generic and brand name] but clinically it has shown to have slightly different effects in some women," Steele said
Many women use birth control for reasons aside from contraception and for them there is no "Plan B," said Steele.
Birth control pills are used to treat conditions such as acne, endometriosis, irregular cycles and severe menstrual cramping, Steele said, and there is no other treatment option for them. Some women complain of moodiness or cramping, Steele said.
Beyond cost to individual students, the health center will have to bear some of the cost of the increase. Many universities increase the price of birth control pills before resale to generate revenue.
Beck said the mark-up at USC is very small, normally just slightly more than the cost of the pills themselves, plus shipping and distribution costs, but whatever is left over helps to keep the costs of serious procedures, such as stitches and x-rays, low.
"It may affect the student health fee," Beck said.
According to the results of a survey by the American College Health Association, 39 percent of college women are on birth control. Beck estimated that of the women on campus that take birth control, the health center supplies 70 percent of them.
"We want students to know we are just as concerned and upset about this as they are. We are working very hard to get this legislation reconsidered," said Beck, who is also the out-going president of the Southern College Health Association.
The American Health Association is currently lobbying Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for an addendum that would exempt college health centers from the changes. Beck said there is every indication this addendum will be voted on early this summer.
Beck said students should write letters to their legislators about the affect of this bill on them and on campus health care.
"College students are a very powerful voice," she said. "I wish the Student Government would take this issue up as well, because they are also a very powerful voice."
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