Market solutions for college contraceptives...worked!
Rep. Slaughter - “Today, there are already over 3 million undergraduates who have seen their birth control costs rise, in some schools soaring as high as 50 dollars. For low income women, the increase in price means deciding between feeding their families and buying contraception.
Oy vas mir!
Well, as Rudy Giuliani put it so well, we have to get government out of the health care payment industry and return back to market solutions. So when I saw this, I just smiled....
In Boston, Nikki Bruce, a senior at Tufts, said the price of her NuvaRing, once an $8-a-month investment at the campus health clinic, had soared to more than $50. Ms. Bruce said she investigated and found that her health insurance policy would require a co-payment of $45 for the product.
Ms. Bruce, who is also a member of a Tufts student group, Vox, that advocates for reproductive rights, said she thought about switching to another method of birth control, something less expensive. She talked to her mother, she said. In the end though, she worried that her body might have a difficult time adjusting to new hormones.
A search led her to a nearby Planned Parenthood Clinic — off campus — where she said she now buys her NuvaRing for $27.
In true consumer based shopping - she took the time, did some research, did some price comparisons, and found that the market could supply her need at a lower cost.
Admittedly, PP may be tax payer subsidized for the NovaRing - I'm not taking the time to find out. The thrust here is that if pushed, consumers will look out for their best own interest when it is their own money that has to be used (as opposed to another party paying for it).
Market forces win out.....
