Women who use the Amelia T. Wood Health Center's pharmacy to purchase birth control will soon be paying at least double for their prescriptions.
"It's hard to know how it will affect [students]," Kent Bullis, director of the health center said Tuesday. "We've discussed it at great length and are very concerned about it. ... We'll be able to control the prices using generics, but that will be double what they're paying now."
The cost of birth control is increasing at college pharmacies and Planned Parenthood offices across the country because of the Deficit Reduction Act. The Deficit Reduction Act "reduces unnecessary spending of taxpayer dollars," according to a statement on the White House's Web site. A stipulation of the act makes it more expensive for pharmaceutical companies to sell medication at reduced rates to locations that don't meet a specific set of criteria. The Deficit Reduction Act went into effect Jan. 1.
The prescription costs are going up as supplies purchased before the Deficit Reduction Act went into effect run out, Bullis said.
Despite the increase in price at the health center, Bullis said students will still be paying more if they fill the prescription at a retail pharmacy because the health center doesn't have to make a profit.
The original supply of Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo has not run out and therefore is still available at the decreased rate of $10 per month.
Lisa Dorer, pharmacist for Cardinal Health Systems, said on Wednesday that the Ball State pharmacy was no longer selling the NuvaRing and Desogen forms of birth control at discounted rates. The price of the NuvaRing increased from $15 per month to $38 per month after the supply was depleted, he said. Other original prices were unavailable.
Although the Deficit Reduction Act effects all medications, Bullis said birth control is almost the only medication distributed by the Ball State pharmacy that will face a price increase. However, he said vaccines might be effected in the future.
Before the passing of the Deficit Reduction Act, pharmaceutical companies were able to sell medications to many locations, such as college health centers and Planned Parenthood offices, at discounted rates and pay a small amount in Medicaid reimbursements to the state, said Mary Hoban, director of the American College Health Associatoin-National College Health Assessment. The new legislation created stronger regulations for the types of pharmacies that companies could sell to and pay small Medicaid reimbursements, she said.
"Nothing prohibits the pharmaceutical company from selling at discounted rates," Hoban said. "If they sell to colleges at reduced prices, it's going to dramatically increase what [the companies] have to pay to the state in Medicaid rebates."
The categories of organizations exempt from paying Medicaid rebates were designed too strictly, she said.
The American College Health Association is trying to arrange meetings with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in hopes of broadening the definition of organizations to make college and university health centers eligible for small Medicaid reimbursements, Hoban said.
The CMS has the authority to change the regulation within the Deficit Reduction Act that indicates which organizations the pharmaceutical companies can sell to and pay a small amount in reimbursements to the state, Hoban said.
Hoban said petitioning law makers to change the original categories or introducing new legislation are other ways of broadening the categories, she said.
However, in the mean time, Bullis suggests either using generic forms of birth control or to use longer-acting methods such as Depo Provera and intra-uterine devices. Depo Provera is administered through an injection once every 12 weeks and intrauterine devices are effective for five to seven years, he said.
Bullis and Dorer said they do not recommend purchasing prescriptions online because the human interaction is eliminated and students cannot ask questions about the medication and possible side effects or drug interactions.
"Our number one priority is still taking care of [students] and doing it as inexpensively as we can," Dorer said.
Health CenterHours:Monday, Thursday and Friday n 8 a.m. to noonn 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday and Wednesday n 9 a.m. to noonn 1 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Phone: 285-8431
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