I want to highlight something about the generic vs. name-brand issue that people have brought up here. The prices that Ortho-McNeil had been charging were cheaper than generic prices. Clinics could not get generics for $0.01 for a 30-day supply of pills, so they bought the name brands. For example, more than 75% of the WV Family Planning Clinic’s supply of pills was name brand.

So after Ortho-McNeil jacked up their prices, clinics used up what they had left of the name brands, then replaced their supply with generics. As it currently stands, generics are now cheaper than name brands, but they cost much more than what Ortho-McNeil had been charging before.

The new pills are all generic, but pricy compared to Ortho-McNeil’s old prices, Smith said.

The seven pill types range from $1.72 to $14.21 for a 30-day supply, she said. Smith kept one store of an Ortho-McNeil pill with no available generic form that costs $3.20 for a month’s supply.

Although lower than Ortho-McNeil’s prices, the average cost for each Family Planning clinic leapt from about $3 per client to between $10 and 12, Smith said.

“These are things we wouldn’t consider buying before because they were cost prohibitive,” she said. “Now they’re pretty attractive.”

Also, since clinics all over the country are scrambling to buy generics, many of the pills are on back order due to the increased demand. As a result, some clinics have no pills left and are handing out condoms as a substitute. For reasons given by other commenters here, condoms are definitely not a perfect substitute for birth control pills.

Ortho-McNeil has not given an adequate explanation for why they increased prices. They say they are now charging the maximum allowed under Medicaid laws, but they had previously been charging less than the maximum. I’m not sure if there was some change in the law that they are exploiting or what. Personally, I’d like to see the NYTimes or the Wash. Post or somebody get their asses on this to try to get a better explanation.

Oh, I should also add that Ortho-McNeil did lower its prices a bit since its initial huge price hike.

The company reined in the prices a bit earlier this month: a pill that went from one-cent for a 30-day supply to $22.01 dropped to $18.76. The price for Ortho Evra fell to $15.

Ortho-McNeil said the price hike satisfies federal guidelines in charging public health services, but family planning advocates say the company can charge as little as it likes.

And the company hasn’t been willing to talk to clinics any further about negotiating lower prices.

Seriously, not everybody can stretch a dollar to infinity.

There are some months when the budget won’t stretch any further, no matter how you crunch the numbers. There are months when something unexpected happens that puts the whole budget out of whack enough that it *can’t* be fixed (think ‘the furnace DIED’ in mid-winter because there wasn’t enough money to replace it when it started acting up kind of scenario. Up here in MN, that’ll run you something like $5000 plus installation. If you can get someone out to do it when you need it done.). There are months when the only way you can eat is to go to the local food shelf, and hope they don’t SHAME YOU for trying to feed your existing family. Because you are poor, and that obviously means you are stupid, or have done irresponsible things. Otherwise you wouldn’t be poor.

There are any number of low income people whose only issue with “independence” and “responsibility” is that they have jobs that pay less than it takes to survive. What, exactly, can we teach them? Unless you are talking about better skills for better paying jobs — I can get behind that. But I think you have to admit that your statement about “working with low-income women to develop a sense of independence and a self-sufficiency and making smart choices” sounds awfully smug, like ‘these dumb chicks don’t have a clue about how to manage their money and their lives, so we’ll help them out.’ Maybe that’s just the inability of the internet to convey emotion and nuance. I hope so.

As far as big pharm/government goes, well…. I personally feel that there are ethical boundaries that should not be crossed, that I personally would not cross as a business person (which I am, BTW. I own my own small business). I am continually disappointed with how things are run in this country, both in private industry and in the gov’t. Does this mean I don’t get to bitch about it? Because I shouldn’t *expect* anyone else to act like a decent human being with ethics?

Dude, they raised the cost to the clinics **1800** times. (Is my math right? From a penny a pack to $18.00?) Yeah, it’s still cheaper than retail. Yeah, generics are less than name brands. I suspect that the clinics get the generics anyway, but that’s a bit beside the point. The point is — EIGHTEEN HUNDRED PERCENT!!!! If it were any other drug, there would be rioting in the streets! And then there’s the fact that it was done on short notice, for no apparent reason. I think THAT is what most of us are pissed off about. No time for anyone to MAKE any other plans, or rework the budget to encompass a larger outlay for medical costs. Just another slap upside the wallet.

Yay, Capitalism. /snark

Quit whining about rich people screwing you over big time. You should expect that already. In fact, you should have already worked into your budget a yearly screwing-over by government, big pharma, and society in general.

Obviously this cannot be changed or altered or even spoken against, so I will constantly repeat the tired mantra of suggestions for how to “manage” your life. If you werent stupid and poor you would have already figured this out.

The article points out that, although the rates went up, they are still lower than the retail price and generics are available lower than retail.

The pills may not be free, but they are still at lower cost. It is about working with women to figure out where the priorities are adjusting the budget accordingly instead of getting pissed off when the medical industry shows it’s true colors – it is not about altruism, it is a business – or when the government proves once again, that it really doesn’t care about supporting low-income people.

It’s called working with low-income women to develop a sense of independence and a self-sufficiency and making smart choices. What better place to start than with their reproductive health?

I picked up a prescription for another medication today, and I noticed once again the check box on the back of the prescription form to indicate that you’re getting contraceptives (because in that case the prescription is free unless you’re super-rich). Socialised medicine UK-style isn’t perfect, but that’s one thing I’m very grateful for.