New legislation intended to maximize rebates for Medicaid recipients has also made it more advantageous for pharmaceutical companies to discontinue the sale of cheaper birth control to universities nationwide. As a result, Vanderbilt students will have to pay more for their oral contraceptives beginning in the fall.
While birth control now costs just $5 a month when obtained through the health center, it will now cost $15-20 a month — as much as four times what students currently pay, depending on popularity.
The American College Health Association, an organization that advocates for better student health care, has pledged to do all it can to minimize the impact of these regulations, and students should praise this action, however futile. Cheaper oral contraceptives for students encourage safe sex and do not encourage promiscuity, as one must weigh the decision to add birth control pills to an already hectic daily routine.
Many students already pay for their birth control out of pocket, and at $5 a month, this arrangement proves doable for most people. Raising prices, however, may force students to obtain oral contraceptives through their parents' health insurance plans, limiting the individual privacy that becomes especially important when dealing with health care issues.
Individual university efforts to reverse this national shift would likely end in failure; thus, Vanderbilt health professionals cannot be faulted for failing to try. However, the university has said it will use this change to drive students toward Koster Student Insurance, the health insurance program offered by Vanderbilt.
This is not the solution either. Students should not have to subscribe to a different health care plan just to obtain cheaper oral contraceptives when their parents' plans prove adequate for all other reasons.
The university will undoubtedly put significant effort into changing the current health care plan, as Koster does not yet provide low-cost oral contraceptives. This work may go unrecognized, however, because many Vanderbilt students will not switch plans simply it to save $15 a month. And still, for some, the change will be unadvisable and the new cost will be prohibitive.
No matter what the university decides to do, the new federal regulations may put students at Vanderbilt and at colleges nationwide in a tough bind, forcing them to weigh the privacy of student insurance plans against the inconvenience of making the switch to Koster.
