This is causing problems for some college students work two jobs to pay bills and may already have one or two children. Officials say they fear that the price increase may cause some students to switch to less reliable methods or stop using contraception.
According to an estimate by the American College Health Association about 39 percent of college women use oral birth control, USA Today reported Friday.
Prices have jumped at student health centers because changes in the Medicaid drug rebate law took away incentives for pharmaceutical companies to discount the price of birth control pills to colleges, CBC news reported Friday.
The companies were willing to discount the drugs to attract new customers they expected would stay with them.
Skyrocketing price increases are fallout from the 2005 deficit-reduction bill that focused on Medicaid. Because Medicaid is the federal health insurance program for the poor college health officials had not realized the bill would affect them in any way.
But the Medicaid changes mean that drug companies have to rebate more money for other drugs to the states if they are discounting drugs to non-Medicaid patients, according to USA Today.
