Most of my patients are spending way too much money on their hormonal birth control. At close to $50 a month, contraception can eat up as much as $600 a year. Sure, compared to the cost of raising a child, $600 is peanuts. But what if I told you that you could get the same protection against pregnancy for less than $100 a year? That’s a savings of $500 that you can put in the bank, or use to pay off your student loans or credit card bills.
So get smart and start saving money on birth control!
1. Go mail order.
Stop refilling every month at the local Duane Reade or CVS, and go mail order. Did you know that if you use your insurer’s mail order pharmacy, you can get a 90 days supply of birth control pills for a single co-pay? Not only do you save money, but you don’t have to worry about finding a 24 hour pharmacy on a Sunday night when you run out of pills, because you’ll have a 90 day supply in stock all the time.
You’ll need to think ahead, since it can takes up to a week to get your pills in the mail. Solve this problem by asking your doc to write you two prescriptions – a one month supply with 12 refills to keep at the local pharmacy for emergency refills, and a 90 day supply with 3 refills for mail order.
If you don’t know what mail order pharmacy your insurer uses, check you insurance card – it’s usually there. If not, ask Human Resources at your job.
2. Go generic.
Most pills are available in cheaper generic forms that are just as effective and available at much lower cost. If your current pill does not come in generic, ask your doctor if changing to pill that comes generic would be a problem for you. In my experience, a significant proportion of patients can find a generic pill that they will be just as happy with as their brand name.
Check your insurer’s website for a list of preferred generics. Print it out and bring it to your next appointment. Ask your Doctor to see if changing to a pill from that list would be appropriate for you.
3. Get your pills at Walmart, Target or Kroger.
That would mean changing to generic Sprintec (Ortho-Cyclen) or Tri-Sprintec (Ortho-Tricyclen), but at a low cost of $9 a month, it may be worth a try. Ask your doctor if it makes sense for you. (more info here)
4. Get your pills from Planned Parenthood
Even though recent legislation has limited their ability to purchase pills cheaply, Planned Parenthood’s prices may still be cheaper than the pharmacy.
5. Ask your partner to share the cost.
It takes two to tango, so let’s go, gentlemen – Ante up!
6. Take your pills the same time every day, and don’t miss a pill.
After all, if you’re spending money on birth control, don’t take it properly and end up with an unplanned pregnancy, then you’ve wasted your money, right?
7. Use pre-tax dollars for birth control.
If you know you’ll be spending a given amount every year on your pills, put that amount aside in a health savings account with your employer and save on taxes while preventing unplanned pregnancy.
8. Join Planned Parenthood’s Birth Control Now Campaign.
Keep birth control prices low for college students and low income women.
9. Remember birth control pills are used for more than just birth control.
If your insurance won’t cover family planning (and shame on them if they don’t), ask your doctor to submit a letter of medical necessity to your insurer for your use of your pills for treatment of menstrual cramps, acne, or menstrual irrregularities if that’s another reason why you use them.
10. Your turn
Got any other ideas on how to save money on contraception? Share it in the comments section.
Great tips, TBTAM. Except for the planned parenthood, it is good advise for all prescriptions
So here’s what I don’t get… that 90 day thing? It’s never 90 days. Always 28×3, which leaves you almost a week short every three months, and almost a month short over the year. Yeah, I know why they do it, but it still bothers me. They should put in an extra 3 hormone pills, figuring that folks will put them at whichever end or whenever makes the best sense (because some months have 31 days).
And so long as I’m complaining, could we just leave out the extra packaging and fake pills? 🙂 I hate paying for fake pills, and one quarter of them are fake.
Okay, done venting!
Move to the UK. All birth control prescriptions are free here, but you still get people buying condoms.
BTW off to hospital at last. Rumour has it that 2nd June is a firm date.
Great tips, TBTAM. From the insurance point of view, I agree it sucks that some policies don’t cover BCPs..or, to be honest, all forms of contraception that is not available OTC. However, that is employer option, not the company. So, you need to rag on your employer if they aren’t covered under your policy, not the insurer.
I was wondering what the difference between types of pills are. When I asked my gyno which pill I should go on, she brushed me off, and said it doesn’t really matter, since they’re basically all the same!
Great post!
My additional recommendations: fight for health care reform. Oh, and get an IUD or have your partner get a vasectomy, depending.
Some insurance companies do not charge by the pack, but rather by the month (x day supply), so if you get your doctor to prescribe your pills as “continuous use” (not having a week off) you can get 4 packs for 3 months.
Sigh. Grumble I work with mostly uninsured women in PA, where the Target/Walmart deal is not available. Not sure if mail order would work as very few of our ladies even have credit cards. So they just keep having babies….
maribethcnm — that is really awful.
do many people still use diaphragms? that has been my method of choice my entire adult life, and the only time it didn’t work was when i didn’t use it. i’m bad about remembering pills, but this has worked for me — reasonably cheap, reuseable, non-invasive [unlike an IUD or norplant], not hard to use. i suspect it is less popular now — since it is harder to find the ortho contraceptive jelly to use with it — but am not sure why.
Or, you can use NuvaRing, since you can keep it in for up to a month. It’s also something you only need remember once a month, and you don’t have to worry about nausea or other GI effects from oral contraceptives (very common for folks with IBS).
Toni – You are right – most of these tips hold for all prescription drugs. What I have found is that older folks, who tend to be on more drugs, know these tips already. But young women are clueless about these strategies when it comes to contraception. Most are filling their scripts once a month at some local chain pharmacy, which is a hug waste of money for them, especially as most are not making much money yet.
Bardiac –
I know, the 28 day thing only works for February. But it seems not to be an issue – you just refill every third pack. The problem is when you go continuous, but even then, a well-written prescription takes care of that problem.
Criarwoman – Keeping my fingers crossed for you…
Maggie –
Tes , it is also the employer, but I suspect that the insurer is part of the problem. They are the ones offering the various packages to employers, and charging more if contraception is included. While some employers don’t pay for BC for religious reasons, the majority are making cost decisions. So yes, I blame the insurers too.
Shirah – That’s a question that would require a book chapter to answer. In a nutshell, pills are not all the same. However, for many women, the differences are not important. For some, they are, but it’s often unpredictable which pill they will like the best. So it’s kind of trial and error, with a bit of intelligent guesswork to figure out which pill for which woman.
Hilary –
IUD and sterilization can be cheaper in the long run, but the upfront costs are higher, especially if the insurance does not cover the costs. IUD is a great method, by the way, and under-utilized here in the US.
E – Provided, of course, that that is how you are taking them. To ask your doc to write a script one way knowing you are taking it another way opens that doc up to charges of insurance fraud.
Maribeth –
Target and Walmart accept debit cards at their online stores, maybe that could be an option for your clients…
Kathya – Diaphragms are another underused method. However, it requires an obsessive user who won’t leave it in the drawer. I sued one for years with success.
Rachel – I love the Nuvaring. It’s low dose, easy to use and I ahve found women who had side effects with all pills able to use the ring. A lot of women, however, have issues with putting something in the vagina, which is a shame because I think some of them would do better with the ring. The cost issues are the same as with the pill, and all the strategies discussed in the post would apply to the ring as well.
about the diaphragm — very true that it needs to be used every time. i’m a fan of deliberate choices, so this has really not been a problem for me, and has not made things less fun.
my daughter hates this story, but i know exactly when she was conceived, because it was the one time i didn’t use my diaphragm during the relevant period of time. kind of a misunderstanding about how soon we planned to have another baby. all turned out well, we could not be happier! but it really does only take once, sometimes… go figure, we had tried for a year before her older brother was conceived.
Thanks for the tips. My girlfriend was complaining about this issue just the other day.
Personally, I think condoms and Plan B are the way to go. But she insists on OCP’s regardless.
James – In terms of pregnancy risks, I side with your girlfiend, unless you two are really great at using condoms…Still, it’s great to see you both involved in the discussion.
Anonymous-
One more comment like that and I turn on the word verification…
Ah, our ladies are mostly Plain (Amish/Mennonite) no debit cards either. But OCPs, even Mirenas, are catching on! And yes, the diaphragm is still a big choice. But it comes with stern warnings from the midwife about “perfect use” success rate versus “typical use” success.
I have the Mirena IUD and it only cost my copay. Something like $40 for 5 YEARS of care. And oh-so trustworthy.
maribeth, i’m calling that progress. the payment things need to be worked out much better, and i hope they can be. you and the midwives are doing very good work.
Aww, thank you Kathy! We really do try hard to promote child spacing. I have personally internet ordered and hand divided packages of 2,000 condoms about 20 times….. exhausting! When people say, what is the most important modern invention (ie, telephone, TV, computer, electricity) remember – IT IS FAMILY PLANNING. How different our world would be without.
it definitely is family planning.
i hope this comment does not sound peculiar, but i think it is wonderful you are working with very traditional communities, and able to help. family planning has been around for a very long time, just not with the effectiveness available now. you are providing a bridge that doesn’t offend core feelings about being Plain, and i admire that.
I had a Mirena put in. I loved it initially, and wrote off some issues I started having post insertion as temporary.
Until it got worse. After many tests, the doctors believed the mirena had something to do with it, so out it came.
I’m tempted to try the copper, but am back on the pill for now. The IUD is easy, but I would make sure you do your research first.
I’m uncomfortable with mail-order prescriptions. Many years ago, I was on Lupron (don’t bother, nothing works on endometriosis and Lupron makes it worse) and my insurance company would only cover it if I had it shipped through the mail. They only shipped one month’s dose at a time, so I wasn’t saving money and I was uncomfortable with an injectable drug sitting in the back of a mail truck in July’s heat. The package was supposed to be delivered to my home, but had not arrived and I was only days away from the last day I could use it.
The package arrived at my office, wrapped in Saran wrap, with only my company name on the repackaged box. The mailroom supervisor knew that it was possible the package would arrive at work instead of at home and he grabbed it and helped me protect some of my privacy.
My doctor called the insurance company and told them that it was unacceptable for them to expect her to inject anything into me that had been through as many hands as my precription and they allowed me to get an intact package from my local pharmacy.
Many drugs are damaged by intense heat, some by intense cold. Be aware of what you’re having delivered and how the drug reacts to hot or cold temperatures.
Your neighborhood pharmacist may not give you a straight answer on the effects of extreme temperatures on prescription drugs, but most will as the corporation gets paid, not the pharmacist.
If possible, change insurance companies!
I found a great prescription discount card at http://www.rxdrugcard.com. It costs only $4.50 a month to have the card. They have posted their prescription prices on the website to check before you enroll. I think that RxDrugCard.com is the best drug card available for prescription discounts. No-one should have to pay the full cash price.
Do you have any other tips on getting low cost BC pills other than going generic when you don't have insurance?
The Ortho guys are now sueing the Tri-Sprintec guys because evidently their patent wasn't up when Tri-sprintec began making the generic version of Ortho and its no longer available.
Jessica –
Trisprintec is still available at Walmart. (I called and checked today when I saw your comment). Also, there are two other generics of Orthotricyclen – Trinessa and triprevifem – that are available at other pharmacies. You should have no problems getting theses pills at the time.
Best,
TBTAM
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