It is amazing how quickly “free birth control” became the next civil rights issue. Until recently, I never noticed that Catholic employers refusing to cover birth control costs had created a public crisis, forcing women across the country to pay a staggering $9 a month for the Pill.
Which is of course because this isn’t a crisis, it’s a fake controversy. There’s no vital public interest in forcing religious employers to provide insurance for contraceptives, and you don’t have to be anti-birth control to think that. Though it does help to have the bare-minimum of tolerance for other people’s personal beliefs.
Of course, just because the birth control insurance mandate has near-negligible benefits for women doesn’t mean nobody’s profiting off this. At The Atlantic, Avik S. A. Roy explains why drug companies have the most to gain from the rule:
Under the current system, drug companies have an incentive to compete on price. If you have health insurance that covers birth control today, your insurer is likely to charge you a higher co-pay for expensive, “branded” versions of birth control over cheaper, generic ones. If you don’t have health insurance, and you’re buying the Pill directly from the pharmacy at Wal-Mart, you have even more incentive to shop on price.
Under the new mandate, this price incentive disappears. Insurers will be required to pay for any and all oral contraceptives, without charging a co-pay, co-insurance, or a deductible. This “first dollar coverage” of oral contraception kills the incentive to shop based on price.
If history is any guide, this significant change will drive up the price of oral contraception. Today, Tri-Sprintec costs $9 a month. In 2020, don’t be surprised if it costs $30.
We already knew ObamaCare was a goldmine for drug companies, which is why the president has gotten so much support from the pharmaceutical industry. Now we know what he was willing to sell out in order to get it: the rights of conscience for religious employers.
We have to be the laughing stock by now throughout the world with issues like these among others.
Obama and his media friends would much rather focus attention on “free” birth control than on the fact that the percentage of the US population that is employed is at a 20 year low. r nr nWill insurance companies be forced to give guys “free” condoms? Of course not; they are not prescription drugs. This article has lifted the veil.
9.00 a month. Not in our state. It's 22.00 dollars a month here, and it's not free at plan parent hood either.
It won;'t be $30, it will be at least $90, if not more. n nThe same pharmacy — Target — more than doubled the cash price of a generic drug, n$89 to $190 — in a month. Same drug. And when I refused to pay it, they were willing nto sell it to me — for this month only — for the $89 I had always paid. n nWe are going to see more and more of this — want to pay cash for your medical care so that it doesn't go into a national database? Prepare to pay every last penny you have….
One word: Vioxx. I consider it to have been a miracle drug that kept me out of a wheelchair. And it also was incredibly expensive. So the insurance company refused to let me have it, notwithstanding my doctor's script and the rest. And as I was going through the insurance company, I couldn't pay cash for it either. n nI don't know that much about women's health and B/C pills, but I am guessing that there have got to be some women who are allergic to something — but can take the more expensive alternative. Except that you can't have the red pill, you have to take the blue one. Even if you puke your guts out every morning, you still have to make do with the blue pill.. n nEVEN IF YOU WOULD GLADLY BUY THE RED PILL WITH YOUR OWN MONEY, THEY WON'T LET YOU…. So you have to make do with the blue pill. And you puke your guts out every morning. And….???? n nFolks, this is about control. Nothing less….