UHS to raise birth control prices soon
12.03.10
The price of birth control pills will increase at University Health Services after March 31 due to changes in pharmaceutical pricing in recent years, UHS Director John Kolligian announced in a letter sent on Feb. 25 to the 488 students who have purchased oral contraceptives on campus in the past year.
The price increase is in response to the depletion of discretionary funds that UHS has used to subsidize oral contraceptives for all students and their dependents.
The two brands of birth control pills at UHS currently cost $6 per pack. After March 31, a pack of Lo-Ovral will cost $14 and a pack of Aviane will cost $17. Students will not be allowed to purchase more than five packs of either brand from UHS at the current subsidized price before the end of March.
In 2007, when UHS began to subsidize birth control, changes in the Federal Deficit Reduction Act caused pharmaceutical companies to raise the rates at which they offered oral contraceptives to institutions of higher education. UHS, however, was able to continue selling generic birth control pills at a discounted rate using discretionary funding.
Source: The Daily Princetonian