Interest spikes in long-acting birth control following presidential election, threat to Obamacare
It's not just
Women are concerned about a possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which required all health insurance plans to cover birth control without a copay, said
"They're directly citing that as the reason why they're calling," she said.
President-elect
Long-acting birth control methods like IUDs are among the most effective forms of contraception, with effectiveness rates over 99 percent. Because they're inserted by a doctor and left in place, there's no room for user error, like forgetting to take a pill or putting a condom on incorrectly.
"We call it get it and forget it," Harms said.
In spite of their effectiveness, long-acting methods are not widely used in the
Though they can be cheaper than a monthly prescription for a hormonal birth control pill, IUDs are expensive up front, costing between
"The first IUD I got, I saved up for it," said
The high cost of long-acting methods has left some women eager to make sure they won't be footing the bill if Obamacare goes away.
"I'm going to go ahead and do it before there's any chance of those things changing," she said.
Robinette previously used a hormonal ring, but switched to the IUD because she wanted a birth control method with a lower hormonal dose that she didn't have to think about. Her insurance covered the full cost.
"It was a lot of money. Definitely more money than I had in my checking and savings combined," she said.
Providers in the
"Instead of three a week it's three a day," she said.
Though she hasn't tracked exact numbers, the increased demand has led her to double CHAS' ordering of the devices in case "there's a run on IUDs from the manufacturers," she said.
Before Obamacare mandated birth control coverage, she paid out of pocket for her pills. Her prescription was written for a hormone combination, not a particular brand, so her monthly out-of-pocket cost ranged from
That uncertainty made it hard for her to budget. When she was younger, she also lived 25 miles from a pharmacy, which made picking up a monthly prescription difficult.
"People don't realize how hard it can be to get contraceptives and contraceptive coverage," she said.
She'd like to have a more long-term method in place in case her insurance stops covering the full cost, she said.
"The future of the Affordable Care Act and health insurance in general is very uncertain," she said. "That's what's really pushed me over in strongly considering it and pursuing it."
Though healthcare providers understand concerns over a possible Obamacare repeal, they also said insurance coverage isn't likely to change immediately.
"Everything's already been negotiated for insurance coverage for 2017," Johnson said. "A new president coming in
CHAS can't subsidize the cost of birth control devices, Johnson said, but they do offer appointments, including for device insertion, on a sliding scale to people without insurance.
Harms said
"The foundation of
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