I kept hearing that the cost of birth control is going up for college students, but didn’t know much about the topic or why. Here is part of an article I found on the University of Connecticut Daily Campus website.

College students have adjusted to the cost of gas, tuition and books increasing - but now birth control? It seems like that was the only affordable necessity left. No good can come from this increase. It is a simple enough task to increase tuition because the worst that can happen is that some people may become angry and more loans will have to be taken out. It isn’t like the increased cost of tuition can result in a child. But the increased cost of birth control can.

According to USA Today, due to a deficit reduction bill affecting Medicaid, college students across the state will begin paying double or triple the cost of their contraceptive. As a result, some students may stop taking oral contraceptives and revert to a more general contraceptive. However, general contraceptives, along with other forms of birth control, may not be as safe or as reliable as the pill. The pill is highly effective on its own and doubly effective when paired with an additional form of birth control. Now, it will prove difficult to find a method that is as inexpensive, reliable, and safe as the pill is.

Through a statistical survey, The American College Health Association found that about 39 percent of undergraduate women use various kinds of oral contraceptives, and not all of those women have medical insurance. Medical insurance will cushion the cost inflation, but everybody will feel the impact of the more expensive pills. With medical insurance, a previously $10 pack of pills will perhaps now be purchased at $13. But for those without medical insurance, the impact is much more significant. Because of the deficit bill, a pack of pills may now cost up to $30, which for some, is highly unaffordable.

Taken from the University of Connecticut Daily Campus. Visit their site.