Friday, May 25, 2012

How Much Do You Pay for Birth Control?

There have been a lot of headlines swirling lately about the cost of birth control, government regulation, and whether employers and/or insurance companies should foot the entire bill for contraceptions like they do for annual physicals or other preventative care.

For the record, I don't think that insurance or anybody else should have to pay for something medical or cosmetic that I elect to do. Insurance should be purchased for things that we do not expect to encounter, like a brain tumor or broken bone. However, insurance companies and the government have taken it upon themselves to act a lot more like healthcare providers than insurers, and they now cover all manner of elective drugs, treatments and "diseases" along with lots of preventative care items like annual physicals and screenings. So as long as they are covering viagra I don't see why covering birth control is controversial - especially since it would save everybody a lot of money to have fewer unwanted babies in the system.

Anyway, this article addresses the issue and asks the question: What Does Birth Control Really Cost Anyway?

I thought it was interesting and never realized there was so much variety. I used to get my Yasmin for free because my old insurance plan was Consumer Driven and covered $750 in care before the deductible and copays kicked in (annual physicals were free and not included in the $750). Since I never used up that money I never got to where I paid for my prescription. But when I was uninsured for a month my Yasmin cost me $100 for a 28 day pill pack. Now that I'm on my new insurance plan I pay $60 a month for it - the full rate negotiated by the insurer.

I contribute to a health savings account at work so that I can use pre-tax dollars for my medical costs, so effectively I'm now paying around $45 for my birth control. For the record Yasmin is not a generic brand and so I pay top dollar.

What do you pay?

db kredyt kredyt z komornikiem kredyt mieszkaniowy

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