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
Rolbert Kastigar
Chicago, Illinois, Retired
<p>Birth control is not a medical issue.</p>-<p>Many activities involve risk.</p>-<p>Riding a bicycle involves risk, and wearing helmets is encouraged. But we don't expect insurance companies to pay for the helmets for those who ride.</p>-<p>Boating and canoing involve risk, and wearing floating devices is encouraged, but we don't expect insurance companies to pay for these devices for boaters and canoeists.</p>-I<p>f I were to be offered health insurance that did not cover birth control, I would buy it. There would be less for the insurance company to pay out and this would leave more for the insurance company to pay for things I believed in.</p>-<p>I am not against medicine that is paid for, for something else other than solely to provide birth control. Legitimate health conditions that came about through no fault or activity of the insured. (This is the circumstances of the first story from Karen K. about her teen-age daughter.)</p>-<p>Certainly the government should not pay for or require insurance to cover this risky activity. Let those who want this "protection" seek out insurance that will pay for it.</p>
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Ali
Washington, District of Columbia,
As a full time student who will graduate with over $200,000 of debt, birth control without a copay means that I don't have to choose between compromising my health and paying off my education.
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Caitlin Brooks
Richland, MI,
Birth control pills are expensive lately. And without copays, women in need of those pills are crabby. Birth control pills add miniscule hormones to a woman's body to make sure their periods come and go at the right time. Without birth control pills, periods may last for more than a week, causing terrible mood swings and cramps.I have had very painful cramps and horrific outbursts during my teens, my college life, and shortly after college. And those outbursts were not intentional -- they were blamed for menstrual irregularity. It was even more painful to write a prescription for birth control pills, which were expensive during my teens. Those are what help me with my cramps, mood swings, and facial acne.Only recently did I find out that birth control pills are not all that expensive. I have a good insurance plan through Blue Cross Blue Shield, and I'm proud of it.Without birth control pills and a good insurance plan, I would be a crabby mess.
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Helen Santiago
Media, PA, retired medical psychologist
When I got married over a half-century ago, contraception was illegal in New York. My OB-Gyn invented an medical excuse for me and provided me a diaphraghm, so that I could finish college, eventually a PhD.I have three gainfully employed, successful children, and one grandchild. My daughters are free to exercise their reproductive choices and they marched with me and their boyfriends in Washington DC years ago. We also marched for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.
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Laura Kramer
Boston, MA, Assistant Editor
Getting my birth control at no cost means I can use that money to better support my family. The money saved will allow us to purchase more nutrious food and not have to worry about the burden of paying for our birth control.
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flafreethinker
Clearwater, FL,
Long overdue. There are too many unwanted, unplanned,unaffordable pregnancies in this country. This is a simple, easy solution to a problem. Just think how much it would cost the tax payers for live births,many with huge medical complications, plus those born would end up on medicaid, food stamps, and wellfare. Much more economically friendly to provide prevention.
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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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