Imagine a world where, if you wanted birth control, you’d just go to your doctor, talk about what kind is right for you, and then they’d give it to you for free. Simple, right? Back in reality, though, things are a lot more complicated.
On top of trying to get to our clinic appointment without the whole world getting in our business about it, many of us also have to worry about scraping together the co-pay for another month of pills. But at the end of September, the US could take a huge step toward making birth control less of a nightmare for everyone who uses it – including teens. Under the new healthcare reform law, there will be no more co-pays for preventive services – so anything that helps you stay healthy will be free.
This will probably include services like vaccinations and eye exams, but groups who care about sexual and reproductive health, like Planned Parenthood, are campaigning to make sure the kinds of birth control you have to get from a doctor – (like the pill, the shot, the ring, or the patch) – all get included under the “prevention” umbrella, too. If you want to learn more, this article goes into what Planned Parenthood is doing to make their case, plus it gives some sound bites from the opposition.
In California, we’re lucky enough to have FamilyPACT, so teens who don’t have insurance (or can’t use their parents’) have a right to free birth control at their friendly local family planning clinic. But not all teens use FamilyPACT. Many don’t know about it until they come into the clinic. If it was the law across the country, more people would know about it, and more people could benefit. And if birth control were classified – correctly – as something that keeps people healthy, it would lose a lot of the stigma, and maybe people who were scared of it before would be more open to using it. The co-pay for a month of birth control pills can run anywhere from $10-$50 or more, and that’s with insurance. That means in a year, you could save up to $600! That seems like a pretty big incentive to call or email your senator or representative and ask them to support classifying birth control as a preventive service.
The debate’s about to start heating up, so now’s the time to speak up if you think birth control should be free.