Condoms for men are distributed free of charge on-campus by the Wellness Connection. So why is female contraception so costly by comparison?

Senior Elisabeth Sowecke asked herself the same question. Sowecke purchased student insurance because she aged out of her parents’ plan after she turned 23 years old.

“On my parent’s insurance, there was a $40 co-pay at the doctor’s office every month for my visit, but my birth control would be free,” Sowecke said.

Imagine her surprise when she learned that there is zero coverage of non-medically necessary birth control through the BGSU student health insurance.

The selected student health insurance plan only covers “medically necessary” student birth control. Unless a woman takes the pill to treat a medical condition — like endometriosis or irregular periods — the student health insurance will not cover oral contraception.

That means that birth controls pills ——– if being used only to prevent becoming pregnant — are not covered by BGSU student health insurance.

“If I got pregnant, I would drop out of college,” Sowecke said. “We are in the prime of our sexuality. Do they really think we’ll abstain until we graduate?”

The pill is at least 95 percent effective in preventing pregnancy. It is the most popular form of birth control, used by 11.6 million women in the United States in 2002. This is according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Sowecke said she wonders why birth control is not included under the student insurance plan.

Director of the Student Health Center, Glenn Egelman, said that insurance would be more expensive for all students, if it covered birth control for everyone.

Student health insurance for 2005-2006 will cost $1,350 through a new provider, the Chickering Group. Like former insurance provider, Collegiate Risk Management Inc., the new provider will not pay for non-medically necessary birth control.

“We get such a good discounted rate [on birth control for the health center pharmacy], that if it were to be covered by insurance, it would cost the students more in insurance premiums than it’s costing just to buy it here,” Egelman said.

“In the future, if it becomes not favorable because oral contraceptives prices are going up, then we’ll have to re-evaluate. But for the time being, it’s better for all students the way it is.”

Students can purchase birth control at the Student Health Center Pharmacy for discount prices. Most popular brands cost about $15 for one month’s supply, or $40 for three months. Seasonale costs $118.07 for three months, and Depo Provera costs $65.00 for one month.

Currently, there are no numbers available to show how many students purchase birth control at the pharmacy’s discounted rates, according to staff at the Student Health Center.

Birth control can be expensive for college students. University senior Sowecke said she couldn’t afford the cost of her pills, even with such discounts.

So, Sowecke said found affordable birth control off campus.

Now, she only pays $20 at Planned Parenthood in Toledo. For her donation, she receives a Pap smear, pregnancy test, and STD test. She also receives her chosen brand of birth control — Ortho Cyclen — and sometimes she requests three-months worth in one visit.

“I love it. Planned Parenthood is better than my private physician,” Sowecke said.

This solution wouldn’t work for all University students who take birth control. Sowecke said she worries that some freshman might not have enough cash to pay, or a ride to Planned Parenthood in Toledo.

Women’s studies instructor Jeannie Ludlow is also concerned. She said that some of those young women would risk unwanted pregnancy to keep their sex lives secret from their parents. Ludlow has seen this first hand, though her work as a patient advocate at the Center for Choice in Toledo, where she talks to women who want abortions.

“Many girls don’t want their parents to find out they are on birth control,” Ludlow said. “They don’t have any money, but maybe they are afraid to use the Bursar to charge birth control at the Student Health Center.”

A patient’s privacy is protected at the Student Health Center under the privacy policy. And all services charged to a student’s Bursar will appear on the bill as a generic charge, to read “health center service,” according to the office manager Marlene Reynolds.