This is how I feel about the BC debate

[7yrslater]

Yeah, I agree. Why not give us the drugs that really matter for free. The ones that potentially save your life or keep you sane or pain free. (I only mention sane because my daughter's bipolar medication is outrageous and my other daughter's arthritis drugs are as well. It's ridiculous.)

[3 ladybugs]

Originally Posted by 7yrslater Yeah, I agree. Why not give us the drugs that really matter for free. The ones that potentially save your life or keep you sane or pain free. (I only mention sane because my daughter's bipolar medication is outrageous and my other daughter's arthritis drugs are as well. It's ridiculous.)

Oh MY! Your daughter has Arthritis? I have never heard of a child getting that! Gently of coarse!

[mom2luke&jake]

Originally Posted by MamaNae My only sticking point is the 'free' part. If we have to pay $530 every 3 months for the medications my husband needs to not DIE then women can pay a $25 copay on birth control considering 98% of the time it's not life or death that they take it.

ITA!

[ReadingRenee]

I don't know, maybe they are trying to lower the number of unwanted pregnancies, unwanted babies and consequently abortions by having insurance provide birth control with no co pay. Seems like a good idea to me.

eta: I also think its terrible that life saving medicine is so expensive. I think there is a BIG BIG problem with the pharmaceutical industry, our insurance system and our entire health care system in general being entirely profit based but that is a whole 'nother subject.

[Bum-fabulous]

Originally Posted by ReadingRenee I don't know, maybe they are trying to lower the number of unwanted pregnancies, unwanted babies and consequently abortions by having insurance provide birth control with no co pay. Seems like a good idea to me.

Exactly. You would think the pro-lifers would be behind this 1000%. Especially since stats show countries with low cost/free birth control have lower abortion rates.

[danner]

$0 copay is not the same thing as free.

[H's mom]

Call me a prude, but if you think you are responsible enough to have sex then you should be responsible enough to pay for your birth control, right? Even without health insurance, there are places you can get free condoms.

OK. And if you smoke you should pay for your own lung surgery and your own chemo. If you eat poorly, don't exercise, and become overweight, you should pay for your own diabetes medication, your own heart medication, your own depression medication, your own arthritis medication, and/or your own asthma medication. If you eat a diet high in sodium and choose a high stress career, you should pay for your own high blood pressure medication. Right?

I don't know, maybe they are trying to lower the number of unwanted pregnancies, unwanted babies and consequently abortions by having insurance provide birth control with no co pay. Seems like a good idea to me.

^^This. The cost of unwanted children in society is a hidden cost that I think is much higher than the cost of BC.

eta: I also think its terrible that life saving medicine is so expensive. I think there is a BIG BIG problem with the pharmaceutical industry, our insurance system and our entire health care system in general being entirely profit based but that is a whole 'nother subject.

^^ Agreed. When the CEO of Merck or Pfizer takes home a billion dollars a year in pay while millions of people can't afford to pay $100/mo for their life saving medication, there's something wrong with the system.

[Ellasundies]

What I think is stupid is that my husband pays just shy of $10,000 per year for health ins. + the money that his company pays for his health ins. AND I have to pay $75/month for my BC that I use for health reasons NOT BC.

I also think it's stupid that life saving meds aren't paid for by some policies.

I have no problem paying a small copay but paying full price is ridiculous and I think it's even more ridiculous and sexist that policies don't pay for BC but WILL pay for viagra.

[mcpforever]

Originally Posted by H's mom OK. And if you smoke you should pay for your own lung surgery and your own chemo. If you eat poorly, don't exercise, and become overweight, you should pay for your own diabetes medication, your own heart medication, your own depression medication, your own arthritis medication, and/or your own asthma medication. If you eat a diet high in sodium and choose a high stress career, you should pay for your own high blood pressure medication. Right? <snip>.

You CAN get lung cancer without smoking.
You CAN get diabetes while eating awesome and being a gym rat.

You canNOT (accidentally) get pregnant without having sex.



There's also a much shorter timeline between having sex and getting pregnant than there is between smoking and getting lung cancer, eating poorly/not exercising and becoming diabetic. Pregnancy literally happens overnight.

[3 ladybugs]

Originally Posted by Ellasundies What I think is stupid is that my husband pays just shy of $10,000 per year for health ins. + the money that his company pays for his health ins. AND I have to pay $75/month for my BC that I use for health reasons NOT BC. I also think it's stupid that life saving meds aren't paid for by some policies. I have no problem paying a small copay but paying full price is ridiculous and I think it's even more ridiculous and sexist that policies don't pay for BC but WILL pay for viagra.

Okay I don't mean to pick on you but I have seen this argument before. Viagra has other uses then for the one that it is advertised for. My DD lived a longer life because of Viagra. She was 4 months old when she was put on it because it expands blood vessels and she needed that for the hope that she would be able to grow better lung tissue. I actually know some of the history of Viagra and they were initially creating it for things like my late DD condition. However in clinical trials it was shown to have "added side effects" and the marketing people got ahold of it and off it went.

Sorry I just have a problem when people go off on a drug that sometimes is truly life saving (as in the case of my daughter though ultimately she did die).

BTW most of my family doesn't know DD was on viagra so that tells you how much this bothers me that I actually posted this on a public message board.