Students will have to pay more money for birth control at Zerfoss Student Health Center this fall.

New regulations intended to maximize rebates for Medicaid recipients have also created incentives for pharmaceutical companies to discontinue discounted sales of oral contraceptives to colleges and universities.

Dr. John Greene, director of student health and young adult medicine, said these changes concern student health services on campus although the effects of the regulations were unintentional.

"The American College Health Association has already met with groups of legislators to try and change the effects of the new regulations," Greene said. "Legislators didn't intend for (Reductions Act) to have the effect it had."

Still, the new regulations will have a drastic impact on the prices students pay for oral contraceptives. Greene says prices will increase to two or three times what students normally pay.

"We've ordered as many generics as they would let us have," Greene said. "When we run out of $5 packs, we have no choice but to purchase whatever generic is available and prices will increase."

Currently, students pay $5 for a monthly pack of oral contraceptives at Student Health Center. This price will be raised to $15 or $20 in the next few months. Sophomore Candice Gay said she thinks the price change will affect student purchase.

"Some people will still buy it," Gay said. "But it's definitely an inhibitor for some students because that's a big increase."

However, sophomore Liz Claydon said she thinks the price increase will not affect Vanderbilt students too drastically.

"Since we are a pretty well-off university, I think students on this campus will probably not be as affected as other campuses," Claydon said. "I think a significant majority of students will continue to buy."

Greene said Vanderbilt has been proactive in pursuing alternative solutions to lessen the impact on college students. According to Greene, Koster Student Insurance is working to remove the exclusion of oral contraceptives to decrease the price for insurance holders.

"In the past, there was an exclusion for oral contraceptives in the student policies to hold prices for premiums down," Greene said. "We're trying to remove this exclusion to allow policy holders a decreased price for contraceptives."

Koster Student Insurance would then cover oral contraceptives, but insurance premiums would increase for students as a result. Also, oral contraceptives would still cost more than current prices, although it would be $10 rather than $20.

"We're working to try and keep the price down as much as we can for students," Greene said.

Sophomore Megan Bhatta said she thinks students will start using other forms of birth control because of the price increase.

"I think people will turn to other types of contraceptives that aren't as foolproof," Bhatta said. "I think a lot of people are going to be discouraged to buy birth control because of the price, even if they can afford it."

According to Bhatta, Student Health should do whatever they can to keep prices down.

"If we put so much time and energy into educating students about safe sex during middle school and high school, it seems like a waste to suddenly pull away those resources or make them harder to obtain," Bhatta said.

Greene said he is hopeful that ACHA's efforts in Congress will be successful at changing legislation and persuading pharmaceutical companies to provide discounts in the future.

"We're doing everything we can," Greene said. "Hopefully pharmaceutical companies will listen that many young people will be affected by what they call ‘nominal pricing.'"