Birth Control Rant- probably best for only the women to read...

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by DrKappakevin

MYTH!!!!! Most insurance companies will cover at least 1 type of birth control. If you try that one, and it doesn't work for you, your PHARMACIST & DOCTOR can make most insurance companies pay for your old one, but it takes some paperwork and urgency from you. ~CVS

That wasn't the point of the question I asked two years ago, but thanks.

Read it again, Dr!

[Lady Pi Phi]

I read a few posts and it totally suks that the pill is really expensive, but in all honesty, if that's the only prescription you have to pay for, then you're lucky.

One box of my insulin costs $138.00 the other box costs me $72.00...each box only lasts me 2 weeks. Not to mention my sloob testing strips are $80 a box and that lasts me for a month and my needles are another $30 dollars a box and those will last a month, plus other stupid diabetes supplies...oh, and my employer just terminated my benefits.

I know women like their method of birth control, but if it's really that expensive and you can't afford it, there are cheaper methods of birth control (granted, some of them may be less effective). I apprecaite your frustration, and I think it's wrong that birth control pills are so expensive, but there are many people out there who are spending way more money of prescription drugs that actually need them to live.

I apologize for my little rant, but I think it's more of a crime when I'm spending $roughly around $500 a month on prescription drugs that I need live.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

At my school you don't have to have insurance. For I've ever heard of that.

I pay $37 a month... used to be $34 for Yasmin. I can't take anything else cuz I gain a large amount of weight on them and I can't afford that. My doc, the first time, gave me 3 months worth free. Last year he gave me 4 months. Now I'm waiting to see if he'll give me 5 months free which would be absolutely fabulous.

My insurance gives me $1 off. Woohoo.

2 years later and Yasmin is a whopping $50 a month! I'm on my own insurance now ($347 every two months... not bad!) and I only pay $23 a month now. Thank god because that $50 was killing me.

[Lil' Hannah]

Do you guys do mail order through your insurance or is there some site you can go to?

[bruinaphi]

I think you are referring to the EPICC -- The Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act. I don't think it ever passed.

[ZTAMich]

My insurance doesn't cover more than 3 refills without a new script so I have a few scripts written at a time so I can just go to the phramacy and get my pills when I need them rather than have to call the office and have them call the pharmacy etc etc. So 2 weekends ago I'm at the BFs and am trying to have the script filled. The girl takes one look at the date (2/2/04) and says, "This looks like it could have been 2/2/03 and that's close to two years old so I can't fill it." I ask nicely if she could just this once since I'm supposed to start taking them tomorrow but no she says "Well if you just skip one day and take two on Monday you should be fine" ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Small chance or no chance don't tell me that crap.

She was probably annoyed cause it was a snowy weekend and she had no one to snuggle with and HA I did!

[mu_agd]

Originally posted by Lil' Hannah
Do you guys do mail order through your insurance or is there some site you can go to?

i do mine through my insurance. they have a website to submit it through. usually you have to ask your doctor for a prescription to mail in since they do it in three month supplies and not one month supplies.

[ZTAngel]

Originally posted by bruinaphi
I think you are referring to the EPICC -- The Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act. I don't think it ever passed.

Thanks! I knew there was some kind of Act that they wanted to pass in Congress but I couldn't think of the name.

Lil' Hannah- My insurance company has a mail-order prescription service that I go through. My doc writes a prescription for a 12 month supply and I mail that prescription into my mail-order prescription service. They then send me 3 packs at a time until my prescription runs out.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by ZTAngel
Thanks! I knew there was some kind of Act that they wanted to pass in Congress but I couldn't think of the name.

Lil' Hannah- My insurance company has a mail-order prescription service that I go through. My doc writes a prescription for a 12 month supply and I mail that prescription into my mail-order prescription service. They then send me 3 packs at a time until my prescription runs out.

I think this is what ours does also - my mom orders it so I'm not for sure though. I know I get 3-month supplies at a time.

[ISUKappa]

Back when I was on BCP, I went through Planned Parenthood and it was fairly reasonable -- I think $15 per pack for Desogen. Because of my insurance, I could only get pills one month at a time, though, which was rather inconvenient.

But now, I don't have to worry about BC.

[FSUZeta]

back when i was on birth control pills, i successfully argued with the insurance company and got them to cover the cost, minus my co-pay. the logic i used was that it cost them a lot less to supplement the cost of my birth control pills that to pay for pre-natal visits and health care for a newborn. it might be worth you time to try.

[33girl]

Originally posted by jess_pom
Broke your arm? ARe you pregnant?

Yes, I tripped over his giant wang after he impregnated me. That's how I broke my arm.

[MoonStar17]

I work in the administrative suite of the health clinic at my school.

The story is that JOM Pharmaceticals (previously known as Ortho)
the company that makes OTC, OTC lo, Ortho Evra, etc. has discontinued clinc packs of the pill. I am not sure of the reason why but i can find out......regardless our pharmacy now is using another company "Pharmedix" to order the clinic packs of OTC, OTC lo in order to keep costs the same. (they are currently 12 dollars) they were 10 but the prices were raised and then eventually discontinued.

If you are trying to get your pills cheap and you were on the discontinued clinic packs, ask your pharmacist at school or the admin office about looking into other pharmecutical companies such as pharmedix, i know we researched and they are currently the cheapest (i think for generic)

Also, these companies sometimes do promotional things and grants where they will discount certain pills for a certain amount of time. Alesse was on such a plan not too long ago.. but again these are all up to the health services dept. at your school.

anyways thats the story from the university health services angle..

[SapphireSphinx9]

My BC is $10 a month, for the generic OTC. Thankfully my insurance covers most of it, because even though it's generic, it's still expensive!

Also, I'm lucky because my neighbor is an OB/GYN RN, and she told me she'd get me some packs from the office, if need be.


On a little bit of a side note:
I never understood the idea of condemning birth control, whether it be condoms, pills, etc. because of religious beliefs. People are still going to have sex... Why not make sure we don't over populate the world while we're at it??

[Dionysus]

I'm totally weirded out by BC pills.

I hope alternative medicine comes out with their version one day.