Price increase on birth control at Student Health Center

Books or birth control?

Like a game of dominoes, one price after another seems to be rising around CSULB; tuition, parking passes, books, and now birth control are just some of the items that students must prioritize on which to spend their money.

Due to a recently effective legislative movement, the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), pharmaceutical companies have lost subsidies that enabled them to provide college campuses with drugs at discounted rates. The DRA, implemented in 2007, was originally intended to reduce student loan costs, however it had other unexpected side effects.

"Without the contract with the pharmaceutical companies, brand name drug prices have increased over time," said Kathy Chen, RhP at the Student Health Center at CSULB. However, generic prices have decreased because there are more generic brands of birth control, she noted. According to Chen, the current prices for birth control at the SHC are "cost plus 10%".

Unless a student has health insurance, going to the SHC to obtain birth control may be her only way. If a student comes to the SHC and cannot afford birth control, she may apply for a "Family Pack", a state funded program for contraceptives coverage. According to Chen, once students are qualified, they can receive birth control for free. This option is not available to everyone, however.

College campuses all over the nation are being effected by the increase in birth control prices too. College newspapers such as The Stanford Daily of Stanford University are raising awareness about the issue.