Are oral contraceptives healthcare?

Published

My fiance is very angry to mandate that oral contraceptives should be paid for by health insurance. I feel it is a woman's right, and it is a medication, in additional to medical uses besides preventing pregnancy. But is it a health care issue to prevent pregnancy, like a medication that treats a disease, such as insulin? Or is that beside the point, because it is a choice? It is a useful medication for the personal choice of deciding when and if a woman will conceive. It will save millions of dollars in healthcare for the cost of unwanted deliveries, illnesses during pregnancy, not to mention the savings for raising children, their healthcare and education. Your respectful opinions are appreciated.

Lets face it if men became pregnant contraceptives would be basic health care and no one would question it. For those saying BCP costs $10 month, where are you getting them because in this area $30-50 is what the going rate and even at PP depo shot is $75-110. IUD's and tubals/vasectomies should be more affordable and easily available. Countries with comprehensive sex education have lower abortion rates and unintended pregnancies so to start with giving people information about how their bodies work would be a great start.

Why can't women be sexual beings? It seems that religion has totally perverted women's sexuality and have spent so much time and effort repressing/controling women. Sex is great, it is a basic human function, it seems to be the elephant in the room in this whole controversy.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

None of it is 100% but paying for BC is alot cheaper than paying for medical bills and medicaid/medicare foodstamps etc cause a baby was born due to no BC. Yes it should be covered and every other medicine that a Dr. may write.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Lets face it if men became pregnant contraceptives would be basic health care and no one would question it. For those saying BCP costs $10 month, where are you getting them because in this area $30-50 is what the going rate and even at PP depo shot is $75-110. IUD's and tubals/vasectomies should be more affordable and easily available. Countries with comprehensive sex education have lower abortion rates and unintended pregnancies so to start with giving people information about how their bodies work would be a great start.

Why can't women be sexual beings? It seems that religion has totally perverted women's sexuality and have spent so much time and effort repressing/controling women. Sex is great, it is a basic human function, it seems to be the elephant in the room in this whole controversy.

Agreed. Although I think it's not so much sex at issue here; it's women having sex. And I think the culprit is not religion so much as it is men. Unfortunately, I am seeing a trend in which powerful men are trying to use religion as a tool to control women, but I also see a lot of those same men using whatever tools they have at their disposal -- violence, coercion, manipulation, guilt/shame, economics -- to control women's behavior.

It has been this way since the beginning of time. We need to stop letting it happen.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Gerontology/Home Health CM, OB, ICU, MS.
But there should be. ESPECIALLY for preventative care. It is in society's best interest to promote health among our citizens- even those too poor to pay themselves, and even those whose lifestyles actively discourage health. I am happy to have my tax dollars go to providing health care to some crack addict. And her children.

I believe health care is a basic human right. No one should have to choose between seeing a doctor and eating. No one should be bankrupt because they fought cancer. I would gladly pay out the nose in taxes if it meant "free" (ie tax funded)/affordable health care for everyone.

Surgeon General Everett Koop (very politically conservative) had the view that every U.S. citizen should have access to 3 kinds of care (only):

1. Preventive

2. Emergency

3. Catastrophic.

I still think this is a good idea, though insurance companies would scream - out go huge profits on healthy people.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU, PACU, OR.

Are penile prostheses covered under insurance for erectile dysfunction? If I have hypertension and have to go on medication to regulate my blood pressure, should I forego it and let nature take it's course and have a stroke or heart attack because it's the consequences of my genetics, life choices etc? It's a very good discussion, but choices for treatment are between a doctor and patient. The diagnosis and treatment should be covered under insurance. It's not like having a breast augmentation or nose job because I don't like my looks.

Any prescribed drug should be under an insurance plan.

I feel that contraception for females whether it's an implantable device or pill should be covered. Oral contraceptives are hormones and with that in mind, whether it's used for birth control or other medical needs, should be covered, period. Women's health has always been under-served historically. We (women) walk around with chronic anemia, etc which is basically dismissed even though it's a horrible problem with major organ stress over time.

Maybe it's the age-old Adam and Eve thing, where the woman is seen as "deserving" of a life of pain and suffering especially during child-bearing years.

While I believe that choice is involved in many situations regarding health, helping women protect themselves, plan their lives, keep unplanned pregnancies and reduce abnormal bleeding should be honored in this discussion.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Dear Cargalrn,

Yes, I agree with you whole-heartedly. I work public health in Oklahoma. We are one of the highest unintended pregnancy rate states. Without birth control being paid for by the State and Federal government, the taxpayer would be paying way more than what they already are for exactly the reasons you have stated above. Thank you for being proactive.

As for your finance, would he feel the same way about Viagra when he reaches the age of erectile dysfunction? To my knowledge, some insurance companies (and policies) are not paying for this medication. Is he willing to do "without" when it comes to his turn in life?

I do not mean to be hateful but it is a fact of life. I'm still flabbergassted (if that's a word) of what Russ Limbaugh stated and implied. You would think that as "smart" as he is, he would even see the monetary savings to the government of which he is such a conservative part of!

Thanks for listening.

Sincerely,

Countrydancer358

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Wilderness Medicine, ICU, Adult Ed..

Cargalrn: Thank you for the opportunity to offer respectful opinions on this. While I agree with much that has been posted here, I do not think that we have done the work of defining the issues. The question is not whether birth control is healthcare, nor is it whether it is a woman's right, nor is it whether birth control is a good idea or a way to save healthcare costs. The President's recent order that all insurers must provide birth control at no cost does not address any of those issues at all. The issues that his order raises are:

1. Does the President of the United States have the legal authority under the Constitution of the United States to order a business to offer a product or service at no cost? (Moreover, if he or she does have that power, is there anything that he or she is prohibited from ordering citizens to do?)

2. If providing the ordered product or service violates the conscience or the religious faith of a U.S. citizen, or group of citizens, does the President have the legal authority to compel them to act in a way that violates their sincerely held beliefs?

3. Does one person having a right obligate another person to pay to help them enjoy that right?

Here is an illustration: Is nursing care healthcare? I certainly think it is. Do patients have a right to receive nursing care? Again, there is no question in my mind that they do. So, let's say that President Obama (or any future president) announces that the high cost of healthcare is depriving many sick and injured citizens of their right to nursing care. Therefore, he orders all nurses to work one shift each week without being paid for that shift.

1. Does a president have the legal authority to give and enforce such an order, or is he or she making laws be decree, like a king or a queen?

2. If some nurses refuse, should they be fined, put in jail, lose their licenses, or all three?

3. Does a patient's right to nursing care include an obligation that I have to pay (by mandatory loss of wages) for them to enjoy that right?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

There are already many preventative care measures that are required by law in Florida (and I am sure in many other places, not like Florida to be forward thinking) such as well child visits and other preventative screenings. This is preventative care and should be covered. It seems to be a big deal because, GASP!!, in some cases women use birth control to avoid pregnancy during sex!

Nurses could play such an important role in management of chronic illness (and research shows with much success) and prevention. We need an expansion of public health and programs for prevention and chronic disease. I am so fed up with the ridicuousness. Health is an issue of national concern, just as the military is a national concern.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in pediatrics.

I agree with CountyRat. This is an ominous sign that the government is stepping over the constitutional lines and it is going down a very wrong path.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Here's the thing: I work for a Catholic hospital and I am not Catholic. It frustrates me to no end that they don't pay for BCP unless it is for "health reasons", but they will pay for things like Viagra for men. BUT, do you REALLY want the government dictating what religious affiliations MUST do? I mean, as recently as 35 years ago, the government was STERILIZING people against their will (the last state was in NC in 1973) when they thought people "might be or were promiscuous women". I'm sorry. It frustrates me that I have to go an extra step and have the doctor write "for regulation of heavy period" on the rx. BUT, no one put a gun to my head and forced me to work at this hospital. I had a choice, and this was where I chose, knowing what the Catholic belief system is.

And, it's apples and oranges comparing pregnancy to diabetes. Pregnancy is a choice, diabetes isn't. It isn't like someone with Type I woke up and said, "Hey, I think I'll try and get diabetes today!". There is also more than one choice for birth control than oral contraceptives (like condoms) as we all know. I'm the first one to stand in line and say I'm tired of paying for the irresponsibility of others! But, are THOSE the people who would be utilizing those services (i.e. who have a JOB with INSURANCE from these institutions?) Um, no, don't think so. These are the same morons who could be having sex on a CASE of condoms and still get pregnant, so that's not really a valid argument. Same for the abortion argument. Those of us who are responsible (and employed) are not the ones wasting the tax dollars and having all of the unwanted pregnancies. And, seriously, with so many generic BCP, they are between $4-$9/mo, so, again, not terribly relevant.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Sooooo is killing your unborn child healthcare ?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in psych, general, emerg, mash.

yes! orals are for the mom/womans health. whether to regulate their periods, or enjoy life and not having babies. why is it part of healthcare.

Its a woman right to govern her own insides, not mine, not the states/country.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion