"I'll take a Porsche 944, please..."

By Mark Malaszczyk

University pharmacies nationwide have recently doubled or tripled the prices they charge for prescription contraceptives. A quirk in a new federal law, designed to save taxpayers money on Medicaid reimbursements for drugs, has effectively persuaded pharmaceutical companies to stop selling their products to these pharmacies at deeply discounted rates. (If companies continue to offer such discounts, the law stipulates, they will also receive lower payments from Medicaid.) As a result, 3 million college women who use birth control pills are now paying $30 to $50 a month for their favorite brand, up from an average of $5 to $10, according to the American College Health Association. "Some campuses had the resources to stockpile before the legislation took effect, but most are running out or have already run out," says Mary Hoban, who directs the ACHA's national college health assessment program office. [1]

As I was driving to work this morning, I was listening to a human interest piece on the aforementioned subject via a popular AM Radio Station. The interviewer was discussing the issue with the President of a Student Government at a California Community College. The federal law in question has been in effect since January 2007, but it has only recently impacted the purchasing practices of college-aged women. I was perplexed by both her personal outrage and her decision to blame the Bush Administration for the 'glitch' in the congressionally legislated edict. So, in the age of information at my fingertips I decided to conduct a Boolean search of the subject and came upon a plethora of articles, editorials, and blogs on this apparent catastrophe.

I found some of the individual ire presented in the news analysis rather interesting. On September 10, 2007, the Boston Globe ran a piece written by David Abel and Sarah Schweitzer that offered the following quotes:

"Most people in college are not working and they don't have extra money to spend on birth control," said Alexandra Hatzopoulos, 18, a freshman at UMass-Boston.

Imani Williams, a sophomore at UMass-Boston, said, "If the problem is children having children, then contraception shouldn't cost so much."

UMass-Boston officials said they still have stockpiles of low-priced birth control, but expect to run out soon and will begin writing prescriptions for students to fill at pharmacies.

Angus G. McQuilken, a spokesman for the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, said his organization has been lobbying Congress to change the law.

"Birth control is basic healthcare. Making birth control less affordable for college students and low-income women is bad public policy, and counter to the goal of reducing unintended pregnancies," he said. [2]

The Daily Northwestern quoted senior Anna Louise Burdett as saying, "Students have a hard enough time just affording tuition," Burdett said. "I feel like safe sex is something that isn't addressed much here, and this won't help." [3]

TIME Magazine's Katie Rooney ran this quote in her article:

"At the end of the semester we started getting notes on our packages of birth control saying that they were running low and as soon as they ran out of the old stock we could expect to pay $40 a month," says Jessica Faerman, 20, a junior at the University of Texas.

Every mainstream media piece that I read on this subject mentioned most of the same fears:

• Students will have unprotected sex, resulting in unwanted pregnancies.
  
  
• Female college students will stop going for gynecological exams, resulting in undetected STD's and a potential spike in HPV and HIV.
  
  
• Some young women may switch to cheaper generic brands that might result in serious side effects, like queasiness and mid-cycle bleeding.
  
  

I can't help but think........................so???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????

This debate is built on a flagrant misapplication of the 'ability-to-pay' principle. If a college age woman has been clinically diagnosed with amenorrhea, dysmenorrheal symptoms, or any other life-impairing disorder that the birth control pill can serve a therapeutic purpose for, then she should qualify for an affordable rate under a prescription drug plan. But the American worker should not endorse federally funding the decadence and hedonism that is endemic on most American college campuses; ironically, parents across America should applaud that this loophole does exist. The bottom-line is that no taxpayer should be forced to foot the bill for some sassy, snot-nosed tart wishing to have an alcohol-driven intimacy session with some barbarian unwilling to take personal responsibility for his decisions as well. Please note that I haven't once offered the abstinence argument. Pre-marital sex on college campuses has been in existence since co-educational dorming opportunities emerged in the modern academic era. This is a crisis of irresponsibility rooted in the entitlement culture of our youth, who feel that they deserve affordable oral contraception and We the People should be willing to pay for it for them.

Let me offer a metaphor of the flawed outlook that the students are expressing: I am a public educator who needs to commute to work every day utilizing an automobile. Based on the length, nature and topography of my commute, a car is the only way to get to work. After analyzing my income, lifestyle and other financial obligations that I have, I conclude that I can reasonably afford an econo-class, four-cylinder automobile. Such a car would suit my purposes just fine; but here's the problem: I don't want an econo-class, four-cylinder automobile!!! I want a Porsche 944!!! Why isn't there a Federal Program out there that will fund the difference for me?!!?? After all, if I can't have the Porsche, I may have to drive to work in an inferior subcompact that might not be able to withstand a fatal, head-on collision because it lacks the appropriate crumple zones!!! It doesn't matter who is at fault in the collision...I might die!!! WHAT CAN CONGRESS DO ABOUT THIS!?! Who do I contact? I have rights as an American commuter to drive in the car that is RIGHT FOR ME! And that car is a Porsche 944!!!!!!!!!!! This is all Bush's fault — damn neo-cons.....

Someone please stop the insanity.........................

We can only hope that reason and good old-fashioned common sense will win the day. As the New York Times reported, "Not everyone is troubled by the price increases. Some people said they wondered why college students, many of whom manage to afford daily doses of coffee from Starbucks and downloads from iTunes, should have been given such discounted birth control to begin with, and why drug companies should be granted such a captive audience of students. Others said low-priced, easy-to-attain contraception might encourage a false sense of security about sex." "From our perspective, this does bring to light a public health concern, but for a different reason," said Kimberly Martinez, the executive director of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, which advocates abstinence from sex until marriage. "These young women are relying on this contraception to protect them. But contraception isn't 100 percent — for pregnancy or for disease." [4]

In the end this is a matter of lifestyle choice, personal finance and individual responsibility. If Congress caves in to the outcry of our youth and amends the legislation, it represents another defeat in the culture war that most people have chosen to turn a blind eye to. My advice to the students is to study more, drink less, and try to think more than fifteen minutes into your future.

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© Mark Malaszczyk