Ten years ago, college women could purchase a month’s worth of oral contraceptives for the price of a Chipotle burrito — $7.

That’s pocket change compared with what some women pay for oral contraceptives today. Popular brand name birth control pills such as Yaz now cost patients more than $60 a month.

What’s changed in the last 10 years? The difference lies in the federal laws regarding contraception.

Bye-bye discounts

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 removed college health centers’ ability to offer birth control pills at discounted rates. They had been able to offer the low prices for more than 20 years.

Cathy Thrasher, the pharmacist in charge at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said the act left that ability only to health centers that served communities with high poverty rates.

“College health centers are not typically what you would call indigent care,” Thrasher said. “It’s true that students don’t have a lot of money, but usually they have a back-up force, their parents, et cetera. Usually, they are not truly impoverished.”

In March of 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2009. The act gave college health centers back the ability to sell inexpensive contraceptives. The catch? Manufacturers can choose whether or not to offer these low prices, and now, more than a year later, Thrasher said there had been no great move by any of them to lower their prices.

Thrasher said that the days of $7 birth control pills were probably finished and that she expected prices to keep increasing. Thrasher said the manufacturers were now more interested in spending their money on advertising and offering voucher cards rather than discounts.

Voucher cards allow a patient to receive a certain brand of birth control pills at a discounted price for a limited amount of time. When the vouchers run out, manufacturers hope that an individual will continue buying the product regardless of the increase in price.

Dr. Patricia Denning, the chief of staff at Watkins, connected the rising costs with the large amount of profits the companies make, which include large salaries and annual bonuses for their CEOs.

Denning said the prices would continue climbing unless someone could shame the manufacturers into changing their way of thinking.

What women want

Whether a woman pays for a brand name price or a generic price really depends on her body, Thrasher said. Sometimes, a woman’s body will react more favorably to a brand name contraceptive. Other times, a generic contraceptive will work.

Danielle Fuller, a junior from Olathe, takes Lutera, which is the generic form of a birth control pill called Alesse. Fuller, with the aid of her parents’ insurance policy, pays only $10 a month for her birth control pills. However, for a student with no insurance, Lutera costs more than $50 a month.

Despite the large price tags, Thrasher said she still thought birth control pills were worth paying for each month.

“I think if you’re going to have a plan in life, then you have to make a decision about where you’re going to spend your money,” Thrasher said. “I think if you’re not going to be abstinent, you need to prepare.”

Denning agreed that there were many benefits to taking birth control pills in addition to pregnancy prevention. She said birth control pills helped minimize acne, regulated a person’s menstrual cycle and lessened severe cramping as well.

“You can be at your job and do what you need to do for school, instead of laying on the couch at home miserable,” Denning said

There are some negative side effects of oral contraceptives, including dizziness, headache and nausea. More serious side effects can include weight gain and mood changes.

Thrasher said if students did not want to use oral contraceptives, alternatives included the birth control patch, NuvaRing, injections of progesterone, intrauterine devices and female condoms.

— Edited by Dana Meredith