-" Price Increases for Brand Name Contraceptives"

The Student Health and Wellness Center regrets to announce a significant increase in the price of brand name contraceptives available for purchase at the Health Center. We have been forced to raise our prices because the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture these products are no longer willing to sell us their products at a steeply discounted price.

The impetus for the pharmaceutical companies’ decision has to do with passage of the federal Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005. Prior to passage of the DRA, drug companies were able to sell contraceptives to college health centers at steeply discounted prices while charging state Medicaid programs a higher price for the same products. Drug companies could, in effect, exclude these discounted prices in calculating the cost of contraceptives sold to Medicaid. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is interpreting new provisions in the DRA as prohibiting companies from continuing this practice. In essence, CMS is telling drug companies they will need to charge Medicaid a lower price for these products or pay a financial penalty if they continue to sell contraceptives at lower prices to college health centers than they do to the Medicaid program. As you can imagine, the drug companies have elected to stop selling contraceptives to college health centers at steeply discounted prices.

The American College Health Association, of which Johns Hopkins is a member, has filed a formal petition with CMS encouraging them to change their interpretation of the DRA, arguing that Congress did not intend and did not require CMS to instruct drug companies to include contraceptives sold to college health centers in their Medicaid price calculations. At this time, we do not know if CMS will reverse its decision.

As of now, the price of the Nuva Ring has risen to $33.00 per ring. As of March 1, 2007, the price of Ortho TriCyclen Lo will rise to $38.00 per pack. Students with the University sponsored insurance plan will still be able to obtain these contraceptives for the co-pay price alone. For students with private insurance, we will be happy to write prescriptions that you can take to a local pharmacy. There, you will be able to use your prescription co-pay to purchase contraceptives at reduced prices. Check with your insurance company to determine your prescription co-pay. Since the Student Health Center is not a licensed pharmacy and does not bill private insurance companies, we cannot accept co-pays from insurance companies other than the University sponsored plan.

We very much regret having to increase our prices and we are working with the American College Health Association to try to reverse CMS’s unfortunate and short-sighted decision.

Alain Joffe, MD, MPH (ajoffe@jhu.edu)
Director 2/28/07

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