Tell Santorum: Don't Exclude Birth Control from Health Insurance
At the Conservative Political Action Conference, U.S. Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told the audience that insurance plans should not cover contraception services because birth control "costs just a few dollars" and is "not a critical economic need" for women.
In reality, oral contraceptives like "The Pill" can cost up to $250 for the initial provider visit and up to $50 per month for the pills. This means that a woman whose insurance doesn't cover contraception could pay $850 for the first year of her prescription.
Other forms of birth control are far more expensive. For instance, the cost for a yearly supply of birth control patches can reach $960; including an initial provider visit, an uninsured woman would pay over $1,200 in the first year of use.
Santorum has made it clear that he knows little about the realities of women's medical expenses. Act now to tell him it is unacceptable to exclude birth control from health insurance policies.
We the undersigned urge you to retract your statement, made at the Conservative Political Action Conference, that insurance plans should not cover contraceptive services because birth control "costs just a few dollars" and is "not a critical economic need" for women.
Oral contraceptives like "The Pill" can cost up to $250 for the initial provider visit and up to $50 per month for the pills; a woman whose insurance does not cover contraception could pay $850 for the first year of her prescription.
Other forms of birth control are even more expensive. For instance, the cost for a yearly supply of birth control patches can reach $960; including an initial provider visit, an uninsured woman would pay over $1,200 in the first year of use.
In light of these realities of women's medical expenses, we call on you to withdraw your previous statement and to make it clear that the exclusion of birth control from health insurance policies does pose real economic hardship for some women.
