Republicans Push For Over-The-Counter Birth Control, Liberals Immediately Oppose The Plan

by William Teach | May 27, 2015 8:06 am

One would think those on the Political left would be thrilled by the notion of making it easier and cheaper to obtain birth control. Nope

(The Hill[1]) Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) is leading a new push to allow women to buy birth control without a prescription, hoping to deliver on one of the biggest promises of his freshman Senate campaign last year.

A half-dozen Senate Republicans have signed onto Gardner’s bill, which would require drug companies that sell contraceptives to file an application to sell their products over the counter.

“Most other drugs with such a long history of safe and routine use are available for purchase over the counter, and contraception should join them,” Gardner wrote in a statement. He said his bill would benefit women in rural and underserved areas, while also saving people money and time by “increasing competition and availability.”“Most other drugs with such a long history of safe and routine use are available for purchase over the counter, and contraception should join them,” Gardner wrote in a statement. He said his bill would benefit women in rural and underserved areas, while also saving people money and time by “increasing competition and availability.”

Here we go

Groups like Planned Parenthood have opposed the idea, which they argue could drive up contraception prices.

The group has pointed to ObamaCare’s contraception mandate — requiring insurance plans to cover all FDA-approved forms of birth control — and said that insurers may no longer cover the medication if it’s not prescribed by a doctor.

Typically, most products that go from prescription to OTC see an overall reduction in cost, partially since the entire system of obtaining a prescription then picking them up at the pharmacy helps to increase cost. More competition also creeps in when they go OTC.

But, doing this upsets Liberals because people might have to actually pay $5-7 dollars for a month-long allotment of birth control pills, rather than having Other People pay for them via Obamacare. Prescription birth control was given a specific carve-out per Health and Human Services rules when it comes to co-pays and deductibles, essentially making them free, unlike, say, heart medicine, which usually requires a copay, and will most likely require the person to hit their deductible (this depends on the plan picked and the state for the plan, so, of course, it’s Very Complicated).

So, the opposition is all about supporting Ocare and the medical firms that have bought into the program, monetarily rewarding those supporters. CNN[2] ran a big story in 2012 showing that doctors supported making birth control pills OTC. You can find many other articles saying the same, a few years back.

The Hill article includes quotes from Dr. Mark DeFrancesco, president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, saying that he and the group are against this plan. Interestingly, they were all for it[3] long, long, long ago in 2012. This is all about propping up Ocare (as well as making money)

(Breitbart[4]) According to a press release[5] last week, the “Allowing Greater Access to Safe and Effective Contraception Act” would encourage contraceptive drug manufacturers to file for a “prescription-to-over-the-counter switch by allowing for priority review of the application and waiving the FDA filing fee.”

The measure provides for incentives to drug companies for any contraceptive available to adults aged 18 and above, which is deemed “safe and effective for routine OTC use” by the FDA.

The bill would also repeal Obamacare’s restrictions on consumer use of health, medical and flexible savings accounts for the purchase of OTC drugs, thus further enabling the purchase of OTC contraceptives with these types of savings accounts. Additionally, the legislation would repeal Obamacare’s annual limits on flexible savings account contributions.

“It’s time to allow women the ability to make their own decisions about safe, effective, and long-established methods of contraception,” Gardner said.

Allow women to make their own decisions? Making it easier to obtain contraceptives? Allowing the use of savings accounts? Brother, just stop. That’s freedom stuff.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove[6]. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach[7].

Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/health/republicans-push-for-over-the-counter-birth-control-liberals-immediately-oppose-the-plan/

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