Pharmaceutical company Ortho-McNeil informed many public healthcare providers of its intention to increase the price charged for its contraceptive pill. Ortho used to charge public health services pennies for one type of birth control pills. That same one-month supply now costs North Dakota programs over $15.00 dollars, and over $21.00 in other states.
The decision by Ortho-McNeil was made public two weeks ago and was effective immediately in many states. To offset the costs, these clinics have had no choice but to pass on the rise in cost to their patients who can least afford it. Many health clinics receive over 70% of their contraceptive pill supply from Ortho, which is a major supplier of contraceptive in the industry.
Tia Hansuld, director of a Wyoming clinic
80 percent of the department's family planning patients fall below poverty, while the other 20 percent pay for contraceptives on a sliding-scale rate based on their income. As of Tuesday, this 20 percent of patients will pay no less than $10 for their birth control.
Ms. Hansuld continues:
It's a big problem(...) I have not budgeted for this. If we are giving out a lot of pills for free at $10 a pack, maybe we will have to go to a private (family planning) clinic.
The director, Janet Atkin, at the Community Health Center which has locations in Rochester and Dover, New Hampshire:
I am appalled that the cost of birth control pills dramatically limits our choices and will unintentionally increase the number of unwanted births, and result in an increase of teen pregnancies in our community
Elsie Grossman, executive director of Valley Health, in Grand Forks, North Dakota:
We had no warning. (...) We had no time to get extra dollars to offset this.
So with all this talk from the right about abortion and saving the life of the unborn, there is silence on this issue because they believe sex must go hand-in-hand with procreation. Not surprisingly, ideological ideas on what is done or not done in the bedroom is driving policy which eventually affects poverty rates in this country. It is shameful.
When asked to explain the increase in cost, a representative of the drug company explained:
Ortho Women's Health & Urology participates in the federal government's Medicaid program. As a result, for public health services, the company is obligated to calculate a price for participating public health service customers on a quarterly basis using a mandated formula. The resulting price to Medicaid and the public health service customers reflects our best prices.
Funny how they didn't even have the decency to give advance notice on their intention to raise prices.
But they did have time to put out a fancy press release in July stating:
The 75th anniversary of Ortho's partnership with women offers an ideal time to engage in a retrospective analysis to highlight women's evolving views about their health and the integral role birth control plays in their lives...
How ironic.
You don't have to have a degree in economics to figure out the impact of this. A rise in a cost of contraceptives will decrease the consumption of such product to the detriment of the women and their families who can least afford it. We will see a rise in unwanted pregnancies. Abortion rates will skyrocket. The number of families living below the poverty line will increase. That is the cause and effect. We all know that, so why aren't we doing more to counteract this latest blow from the pharmaceutical industry? Why are we not doing more to make birth control affordable for low-income families?
For some of these women, the question will not be whether or not it is the right time to get pregnant; rather they will have to choose between maintaining a healthy sexual relationship with their spouse or partner and risking bringing an unwanted child into the world that they cannot afford. It will be a decision to take away 20 dollars budgeted somewhere else to pay for the pill. I imagine many low-income women will refuse to make the sacrifice, and instead revert to old myths and legends on how to stave off pregnancy. In the end, we will end up with more of what we didn't want, but Big Pharma will have made a profit.