Share Your Story: What does birth control without co-pays mean for you?
Has cost ever kept you from using the method of birth control that’s best for you? Has it forced you to make tough choices, like going without birth control or even delaying paying a bill so you can afford it?
Thanks to the health care law, new insurance plans are required to cover birth control and other women’s preventive health services with no co-payments or deductibles at the start of their next plan year. As more health plans come under the law’s reach, more and more women will be able to keep their wallets closed when they pick up their birth control.
Tell us — what does it mean to you that you will soon get birth control with no co-pays or deductibles?
Please note: The views expressed in the stories below are those of the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the National Women's Law Center. All statements of fact in these stories have been provided by the individual authors, and the National Women's Law Center cannot and does not vouch for their accuracy. The Center will compile the stories and may use them, in whole or in part, in our advocacy efforts.
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Your Stories
Julia
Minneapolis, MN, Teacher
It means that I will have a back-up when condoms fail. It means that more unwanted pregnancies will be prevented, actually saving the taxpayers money. It means that women will have the freedom to choose what kind of birth control they use, especially if they have allergies. It means that we no longer live in a patriarchal society, where men get Viagra paid for, but women didn't get access to different methods of birth control. It means I get more freedom.
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Karen Kedrowski
Rock Hill, SC, Professor
My 13 year old daughter was experiencing terrible monthly menses. They lasted as long as three weeks, with little to no respite in between them. The flow was so heavy at times, I worried she was hemorraging. The mess is indescribable. I took her to my ob-gyn practice, which has a wonderful staff with a caring and sensitive nurse practitioner who prescribed mild birth control pills to regulate my daughter's cycle. The practice gave us samples that will last six months, because the cost is over $80 per month retail. The six month supply was to give us the opportunity to see if my daughter responds, and time to petition my health insurance to over the cost as a medical necessity. My daughter is responding to the medication beautifully. What a relief for her and me! And now my health insurance will have to cover my daughter's medication just as it covers my son's allergy treatment.Thank you President Obama, former Speaker Pelosi, Democrats in Congress, and the women of the Supreme Court who made the majority of the majority for standing up for my daughter!!
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Razelle
Miami, Florida, Doctor
Birth control should not be a tax dollar expense! Use condoms! Too many STDs and you probably expect the taxpayers to pay for treatment too. Its enough already. Go out and get a job already like the rest of us.
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Jessica Cresseveur
, IN,
I do not have health insurance, nor can I afford it (I would have to give up food and insulin for my diabetic cat to buy insurance). Therefore, I rely on the sliding scale that Planned Parenthood sets based on my income. When I lived in the UK, despite my not being a citizen, I was still entitled to free birth control under the NHS. Unfortunately, the thugs in the insurance cartels are too powerful for the United States to have its own NHS.
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Terry
Oshkosh, WI, Office
No co pay on birth control.... Means that the cost of all other medications will go up to cover this cost so people like me will end up paying for this. When you play you should pay.
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