Forum Post: Craigslist Contraception: Women Pushed To Buy Birth Control On Black Market
Posted 12 years ago on March 8, 2012, 3:28 p.m. EST by XenuLives
(1645)
from Charlotte, NC
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/craigslist-contraception_n_1326743.html
When Lisa's monthly out-of-pocket costs for birth control rose 20 percent to $30 in December, it became too much. The 35-year-old switched to a cheaper method and advertised her leftover NuvaRings, still in the original packaging, on Craigslist.
Lisa, who lives in San Francisco, is hardly the only woman selling contraception on Craigslist. The online marketplace is filled with ads for discounted birth control, including many types of contraceptive pills as well as the NuvaRing, an insertable rubber ring with hormones slowly released over a month's period.
Because the practice of selling prescription drugs online is illegal, Lisa did not want The Huffington Post to use her real name.
"I am aware that NuvaRing without insurance can be very expensive," she told The Huffington Post in an email. "That is why I have decided to sell it online and help out other woman." Lisa sold her two unopened packages of the NuvaRing for $75 earlier this week. Without insurance, each one can cost as much as $80.
Birth control costs have been in the spotlight lately as groups battle over whether insurance companies should be required to foot the bill for contraception. President Barack Obama has pressed for legislation that would require health insurance companies to cover the cost of birth control. Some organizations with religious affiliations, however, strongly object to his proposal.
The resulting uproar appeared to peak last week after conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh insulted a Georgetown Law student who supported the president's plan. On Wednesday afternoon, New Hampshire's House of Representatives passed a bill to repeal a state mandate for employers to provide insurance coverage for contraception.
The monthly cost for a woman to purchase hormone-based contraception like the birth control pill or NuvaRing can range from $240 to $1,800 a year depending on whether an insurance plan subsidizes part of it.
"When women are pushed against a wall, they will take action on their own," Dr. Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in an interview last year. For nearly all women, birth control pills and emergency contraception are very safe to use, she added. Her primary safety concern for those who acquire pills through back channels is the possibility of tampering tor that the medication might have expired.
Tens of millions of women stand to save hundreds of dollars each year depending on the pending legislation.
But the economic effects may be even more far reaching. Studies have shown that women who delay marriage and childbearing by using birth control typically obtain a better education and work opportunities and make more money overall, as The New York Times reported, which also pointed out that one study suggested the birth control pill narrowed the earnings gap between men and women in the 1990s by 30 percent.
Wow, look at this total bullshit. How do people get this ridiculous?
This whole issue is mindless bullshit. It's a distraction from real issues. Somehow, it's all of a sudden a major problem. Total bullshit.
I've been saying that all along.
It's a common ploy, in theater it's called misdirection.
It's not just the issues that are being avoided, there is bound to be something else they are up to.
At least it keeps the trolls occupied for a minute...
I literally copy-pasted something that didn't fit into their narrow mindsets, and look at them go! Its adorable ;)
Oh, an exercise in futility. How nice!
Absolutely. Its a diversion tactic that the right are using to keep people from complaining about the economy.
the generic pill can cost as little as $9 a month, if you get it at the Walmart Pharmacy. They use it as a loss leader and undercut everyone in 47 states where they are allowed to sell it below cost. With all the problems we have this one seems foolish to get distracted with.
JenLynn, not every woman can take the pill, or a certain type of one. While the generics may be just fine, there are small differences in the inert materials (fillers) that could cause issues. That is why some doctors insist their patients receive the name brand for certain drugs.
There is much more to this than most people wish to realize. Please see above reply to JuanFenito for a bit more perspective and please do some research, ask doctor perferably an OB/GYN for information to start that research.
There are special cases with everything. Not everyone can take it, there are some medical conditions it's used to treat, no one should take it for decades. The discussion revolves around what is generally true however.
The fact remains, in general birth control pills are not expensive. If you're on Medicaid you can get them for free, many of the poor that don't qualify for Medicaid get them for free also and most health departments offer free birth control. So it comes down to working people that want someone else to pay for what is in most cases a lifestyle choice not a medical necessity.
I have to keep repeating myself, it's not what so many seem to believe...that taxpayer funds will be used for this, it's insurance.
Most people with insurance pay at least a portion of the premium, most pay at least half, the company merely provides the group, which allows for a lesser premium.
In 2000 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules that prescription contraception must be covered by health insurance offered by employers.
This is a non-issue.
This whole thing has grown out of the thing with the Catholic Church and their moral objection to birth control and abortion. Most insurance companies don't mind including birth control on their policies because it is so inexpensive.
so they're not snake oil salesmen ?
Oh gosh lol...
Is Walmart trying to reinforce their customer stereotypes or something? -_^
Just trying to get people in the door and then shop there, other chains are doing the same kind of thing. There's a supermarket chain in the South with pharmacies that have free generic antibiotics for the same reason.
the pill does not prevent getting a STD, but no one speaks about that.
True, but I found out that in some states you can get condoms for free at the health department. Point is birth control isn't a crushing economic burden on anyone that takes the time to look into it.
But it's just not the same as if you make someone else pay for it! No matter how little it costs, it's still more than free!
Does that define irony? Protesting against corporate greed and for free personal stuff at the same time.
You're right , but the doesn't fit into the dem'/lib agenda. They promote lies.
Everyone is getting sucked in to the wrong debate. It didn't start out to be about the pill. It was an issue of freedom of religion at first. The HHS regulation forcing people to provide services they find morally objectionable to employees.
I know it's about the 1st ammendment. 0bama and his owners/backers/cohorts see the Constitution as a hindrance to them, as a document that reins in their power. That's why they trample it .
Funny how so few people care when it's the religious freedom part of the the first amendment.
the few people you talk about are the libs/dems and the ows crowd. the msm refuse to tell the truth ( nothing new there). 0bama is their man ( boy) and they will cover up for him because in doing that they are covering for themselves.
And the condom does not prevent ovarian cysts. Nor does it help with severe PMS, or other hormone related medical issues. 53% of the the women who use the pill use it for reasons OTHER than contraception. For contraception, many use it in conjunction with condoms, since the condom is the least effective form of contraception, but the most effect form of STD prevention.
birth control pills can give you breast cysts, yeast infections, blood clots which can in turn lead to a stroke, liver cancer, gall bladder disease, among other side effects. condoms have no side effects,
Birth Control causes endometriosis! Women have a cycle for a reason to keep it fresh and cancer free. Wake up World pills are not the answer!
Hormone therapy is drugs. All medications are. That's why they are used with doctor's recommendations. All medications have side effects. Each patient must decide the risk/benefit to her.
That has nothing to do with not covering it in insurance, nor the need of 53% of women who have little choice but to use it.
For those so worried over taxpayer contribution to birth control and, of course, those so concerned over the 'War against religion', a bit of information
2000 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules that prescription contraception must be covered by health insurance offered by employers.
Birth control time line... http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/a-brief-history-of-the-birth-control-pill/480/
Please note, it's PBS not wikipedia.
Strange as it may seem, birth control has been around a lot longer than 50-60 years.
Coitus interruptus is mentioned in both the Bible and the Quoran, a mixture of herbs and honey was effective over 4,000 years ago, the peelings of lemons were used as diaphrams over 1500 years ago along with herbs that acted as spermicidals. There is, of course, abstinence, rhythm method also.
There are herbs the Native Americans and several other cultures used in what the French used to refer to as tisanes, commonly known as teas.
There are herbs that were used to help regulate menstrual cycles, induce or aid in contractions during labor...
This is not a new issue, it's as old as the human race.
What is new is that suddenly it's become a political issue. An issue that is distracting a goodly segment of the public from other, more important issues.
This shouldn't have anything to do with religion or others moral values, it's a business issue, an issue of what not only funds provided by an employer but also the employed purchase in the realm of insurance.
If there were about a federal requirement that all insurance policies cover a broken leg (if policies did not do so currently), everyone would be saying 'yeah, my insurance should pay for setting my broken leg'.
Note the words 'my insurance'.
Oh my gawd, is the US full of so many inept people that have no pride or self-reliance at all?
Ok, so you biches are strung out on big pharma, at least learn how to cook up your own like decent meth heads do.
Yes, and certain men's medications cost $10 per dose. The answer to both dilemmas is self control. Don't make your neighbors pay for you.
I really wish people would understand the hue and cry over this birth control 'issue' isn't what they think it is.
It isn't TAXPAYER money that would be paying for anyone's birth control, it is insurance that would cover it. Insurance that is paid for by the individual who is covered, often in conjunction with a equal payment made by an employer.
The issues women worry about aren't birth control issues, but rather denial of a known treatment for certain conditions, such as ovarian cysts for example. By refusal of covering the cost of hormone therapy, it sets a precedent for the refusal of other treatments for conditions that only affect women.
When you purchase insurance, you are agreeing in effect to pay along with many others, for the ills, accidents etc of those others, while having some assurance that if ill befalls you, they will reciprocate and aid you in paying for your needs.
Whether or not you need such reciprocation means little to the amount your premiums will or will not be. The premium is based on many factors, median age of the group, location members of the group live in, per capita of illness, accidents etc in those locations, type of job...per capita of women of child bearing years, per capita of senior citizens, per capita of children...
It's paid for by the person with the insurance only? Okay, good, that's the way it should be, the user paying for their own self control. So the law is unnecessary.
Let me get out my violin....come on we aren't going to fall for this. Isn't it a little suspicious that this is coming out now? Has anything changed? Well maybe, maybe contraception is even more available now and less expensive. have this people heard of planned parenthood, federal clinics, Target, Walgreens? This is coming out now because of the obamacare mandate for religious institution to pay for contraception. the left is making it a women's health issue and bad conservatives, why they are taking away your contraception. but this just in....this is not new its been this way for years. That is, religious institutions haven't provided contraception historical.
This is coming out now, more than a decade after 18 states already have this rule, upheld by every single court, because the right wing wants to score political points on the backs of women, and using already legally struck down false 1st amendment issues to stir manipulated outrage.
I am downvoting your post without responding! Hmmph!
ok i didn't see the above response.