Bill May Counter Pricey Birth Control Pill

This story was written by Katharine Lackey, Daily Collegian

Jessica Lichty (senior-animal science) said the price of her birth control more than doubled to $50 per month in the past year, but luckily her insurance reimburses the full amount.

"My roommate had to switch to a whole bunch of different kinds of birth control [because of the price changes], and apparently, they didn't work as well," she said. "She's been having problems."

Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., introduced a bill into the House on Nov. 1 to allow college and university health clinics to again sell drugs, including birth control, at discounted prices. Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., introduced a companion bill into the Senate on Nov. 13.

"This is all in response to the change in the Deficit Reduction Act that eliminated the nominal pricing to college and university health centers," Linda LaSalle, coordinator of Educational Services at University Health Services, said, adding that she supports both bills.

One of more than 100 co-sponsors of the House bill is United States Rep. Charles Dent, R-Pa., who said he wants to fix an unintentional effect of the Deficit Reduction Act.

"[Discounted drugs were] addressed in the Deficit Reduction Act because there was a feeling ... that some drug makers had been abusing a practice of offering discounted drugs to hospitals as a marketing practice," said Gregg Bortz, Dent's spokesman. "There's a list of the types of facilities that are eligible for these low cost discounts ... colleges and universities were inadvertently left off that list."

While it is unclear whether the bill will be debated before the year's end, if enacted, the legislation would likely immediately allow pharmaceutical companies to begin selling on campus at discounted prices, Bortz said.

Crowley introduced the legislation as a way to address a "crisis on college campuses," said Rohit Mahajan, Crowley's spokesman.

"The availability of birth control for students, these young responsible adults, should not be diminished especially because of a bureaucratic error," he said. "Some clinics are not even carrying these products because they can't afford them."

Allison Kerivan (senior-public relations) said that while she has not been directly affected by the increase in birth control prices because of her insurance coverage, it definitely affects other students.

"Obviously, if it's more readily available and cheaper, more students are willing to be on it," she said.

LaSalle said UHS, in response to the birth control price increase, "bought up as much birth control as possible" at the discounted price to maintain the low price for longer. However, she said the cheaper supply ran out in the spring.

"And that's when students realized it would cost them more," she said.

LaSalle said there was significant student reaction when the increase occurred last spring and hopes Penn State students will now get involved politically and contact their representatives.

"One thing that students can do is write their local representatives and our two senators in Pennsylvania and encourage them to sign on as cosponsors to the respective pieces of legislation," she said.

Lichty said she supports the bills before Congress and would consider writing to her representatives asking them to cosponsor or vote to undo the price hike caused by the Deficit Reduction Act.

While Penn State students have been affected, Mahajan said the effect is universal.

"This affects nearly every college campus. I imagine that nerly every school's clinic is faced with this issue," he said. "It's a difficult situation because you see a bureaucratic error compromising the health of women."
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