Birth control prices soar on college campuses

Earlier this year, The Associated Press reported that birth control prices on campus were doubling and tripling. (But not condoms, of course–just the kind that the ladies use.)
Well, they’re still going up. Drug companies had long sold colleges contraceptives at a discount, students would pay $15 a month for contraceptives that otherwise can retail for $50 or more, for example.

But colleges and universities say the drug companies have stopped offering the discounts, and are now charging the schools much more. The change has an unlikely origin: the Deficit Reduction Act signed by President Bush last year. The legislation aimed to pare $39 billion in spending on federal programs, from subsidized student loans to Medicaid. And among the changes was one that, through an arcane set of circumstances, created a disincentive for drug makers to offer school discounts.

Great. Female students are (rightly) feeling like this is unfairly affecting their health and rights on campus. 22 year-old Susan Maly at the University of Iowa says, “This is the one thing that many females on campus are getting from student health…It felt like we were a target.”