How to Save Money on Birth Control
May 21, 2009 at 10:44 AM by Cafe Kim - Comments (7)
Last week I posted about how the recession may be causing some women to switch to less expensive, less reliable methods of birth control—thereby increasing the number of unintended pregnancies. After reading some of your "pull and pray" comments suggesting that this info was, in fact, true, I decided to do a bit of detective work to determine how you might be able to save some money on birth control.
Here are some resources that might be helpful in obtaining less expensive birth control. (As always, consult your health care provider about adding or changing a method of birth control.):
- County Health Departments: Many counties offer health services for people who have lost their job and/or health insurance—it's just a matter of tapping into them. Google your local county health department, and register with them to see if they offer any programs for discount prescriptions.
- Planned Parenthood: These community health centers strive to make health care (including birth control) affordable to all. Services and costs vary by location so visit the official Planned Parenthood Web site to get connected with your local center. The site also has a My Method widget to help you find birth control methods that might be right for you by answering a series of simple questions, including how important cost is to you when choosing a method.
- Walgreens: The Walgreens Prescription Savings Club can provide savings on some generic brands of birth control (and other medications). Enrollment is $20 for an individual or $35 for a family. You can get MonoNessa or TriNessa (generics for Ortho-Cyclen and Ortho-Tri-Cyclen) for $12 for a 1-month supply.
- Walmart: Walmart's Prescription Program offers a 1-month supply of Sprintec and Tri-Sprintec (generics for Ortho-Cyclen and Ortho-Tri-Cyclen) for $9.
Do you know of any other ways to save on birth control that I might be missing?
FILED UNDER: birth control, medicine, sex life
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No having sex is a great idea, unless you are married. I know a lot of men who would be quite upset if their wife said, "Sorry, honey, not tonight, we can't afford it."
Thanks for the BC tips. I used the health department after my husband and I first got married. They gave me the pill for free for a couple of month and then I only had to pay $5 for a month's supply (they have a sliding scale based on how much you make). Unfortunately the pill has the opposite reaction with me. My two oldest were conceived while I was on the pill. LOL Now I just go to the health department and ask for condoms (used to have an IUD but had problems, then the depo shot which made me a monster... my choices are becoming very limited now LOL). It was embaressing the first few times I went for condoms but after awhile it's no big deal, our health department employees are really friendly.
I got my birth control through planned parenthood for four years and never paid a penny for it. Of course you have to not have health care, and make very little money to get it for free. It helped because most of my income was through babysitting so I didn't have to claim it when applying for help.
Natural Family Planning, or NFP. you just need a thermometer to check your temperature every morning and charts to keep track of all the necessary info. I'm pretty sure you can find charts online to download and print off.
Walk-in doctor's offices.
And thank you momof3inTN! The solution to brith control while married isn't "don't have sex." That's ridiculous.
I use the health department to get mine. And despite what I make, having my 2 kids means I get my birth control for free, because the kids affect their sliding scale too.
I'd be interested to see how getting sterilized compares (cost wise) with BC pills, especially for people with no insurance. I've always thought that three is enough, and if I change my mind later I have no problems with adoption.
i know a great way to save money on bc. don't have sex
3rdtymsthecharm May. 21, 2009 at 11:38 AM