Campus birth control prices skyrocket

The more than 4,200 women across campus who purchase their birth control at the IU Health Center face dramatic prices increases this year as a result of change in federal law and new pharmaceutical industry practices, health center officials said.\nThe cost of most common forms of birth control have doubled. Ortho Tri-Cyclen and Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo, both $10 per month last year, are now $20, said Cheryl Thomas, director of the IU Health Center Pharmacy. \nThe NuvaRing, which was $12 per cycle, is now $40.\n"That one's depressing," Thomas said.\nWhen IU's contract with drug makers expired at the end of 2006, so did the steep discounts on contraceptives that drug makers have traditionally given to the University and other college health centers.\nThomas was notified in a letter in December that IU's costs would increase. \n"It's very sad," she said.\nBut IU is not alone in this predicament, Thomas said. \nHealth centers across the country are losing discounts on drugs for several reasons. First, drug makers are less inclined to extend discounts on birth control once generic versions of the drug hit the market. Second, a new federal law prohibits drug makers from giving the group-purchasing discounts university health centers once enjoyed, Thomas said.\nThe increase makes the IU Health Center's prices more comparable to costs on the open market. CVS Pharmacy sells the NuvaRing for almost $50.00 per cycle, about $10 more than the health center's new charge.\nPlanned Parenthood in Bloomington, 421 S. College Ave., sells Ortho Tri-Cyclen for $19 and the NuvaRing for $25. However, even those prices are increasing as a result of higher costs from the drug companies, said Larisa Niles-Carnes, a clinic assistant at Planned Parenthood. Starting March 1, most contraceptives will increase $4 or $5, she said.\nSophomore Jen Miller started purchasing her birth control pills at the Health Center three months ago. She ordered them from the Planned Parenthood in her hometown of Highland, Ind. until she found out about the Health Center's discounted prices.\n"How can you beat $10, you know?" she said. "I haven't gotten my refill yet. If they had told me (about the price increase) when I first went in there I would've freaked out."\nStill, Miller said it is likely she will continue to fill her prescription on campus. Her roommates get their contraceptives from Planned Parenthood, where she said they spend $17 on their prescriptions.\n"It's not really that big (of) a difference," Miller said. \nThomas said she doesn't expect the price increases at the health center will create much hardship for her patients because about half of the 45,000 to 65,000 doses the health center sells each year are billed directly to insurance, meaning that many women don't have to pay full price for their birth control pills.\nThomas encouraged anyone who has problems paying for their birth control to talk to her or pharmacy staff, since programs are available to help defray the cost.\nSenior Amy Gastelum, president of the IU Women's Student Association, said her group was not aware of the cost increase, but said the Health Center should have publicly notified students about the change. \nHealth Center nurses have been instructed the tell women that the costs went up, but, when the Health Center posted information about drugs in the past, students did not pay attention to the flyers, Thomas said.\n-Staff writer Michelle Manchir contributed to this article.