Prescription Discrimination

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Prescription Discrimination

Imagine this, you an eighteen year girl old who has decided to become sexually active with your long term boyfriend. This raises a lot of issues for you. While you are interested in beginning oral contraception you are not comfortable talking to your parents about sex. Even if you could talk to them, the chances they would pay for your birth control are slim to none. You do work but $30 a month for the pill on top of the cost of condoms takes up a large portion of your pay check. Do you decide to wait to be sexually active or do you take your chances?

Consider a different scenario, you a married woman in your late thirties, with two children, who receives financial support from the state. Every month poses a new struggle when trying to pay the bills. On top of food, utilities, gas and the high cost of raising two children you do not have room for the cost of birth control. Although you love your children, you simply cannot afford to have another under any circumstances. Do you refrain from having sex with your husband or do you takes your chances? According to the Planned Parenthood web site, “approximately 70,000 unintended pregnancies occur in Massachusetts each year,” this makes it apparent that more women are choosing to take their chances over abstinence.

For decades women have fought for equal rights in this country and countries all over the world. They have fought a tough fight and have come a long way. This makes a blatant message of sexual discrimination all the more outrageous in this day and age. The message is unequal health insurance coverage for women and even in the year 2003 it continues to be a serious issue.

Woman nationwide are faced with a choice to either pay high prices for oral contraceptives or take a risk and go without them. On the contrary men are totally supported when looking for coverage of the newly popularized Viagra pill. Viagra is a new creation, which helps older men achieve and maintain an erection. Most insurance plans cover the cost of this drug. While men are covered on a drug that’s sole purpose is to enhance sexual pleasure, woman are unable to find coverage of a drug that necessary to not only avoid pregnancy but relieve menstrual cramping, clear up skin break outs, and regulate menstrual cycles.

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