Walmart and birth control...

[Bigmack]

.. a few years ago, Mall-Wart agreed that it would fill birth-control scrips without delay. Good.

Today, I posted the "Employer Permission Slip"...

One guy posted "What's the big deal...? WalMart has birth control pills for $9 a month.

http://walmartstores.com/pressroom/news/6747.aspx

I'm having a hard time coming up with an argument to use on this guy. (Been a long day)

Help me out, please. At this point $9 a month doesn't sound too bad. Especially for something as important as birth control.

Philosophical objections are important, but how about some practical objections?

[kiss mah grits]

1. People should pay for their own schtumpting.

It's the self-same thing as paying for your cable and vibrator bills.

[PA Democrat]

4. Hi Rush!

Tell us about your vibrator bills. I'll bet they're high!

[blue neen]

18. Rush is using a jackhammer for a vibrator these days...you know, the oxycontin takes it's toll!

He could eat Viagra like they are Tic Tac's, and it's not going to help a whole lot.

The vibrator bills are high, Rush is high, and the Dominican kids are just trying to buy food and clothing.

[uppityperson]

2. What is that permission slip from? Where? Thank you. wtf?

[Kelvin Mace]

6. Satire,

not an actual form.

I know, the line between reality and satire gets dimmer every day.

[uppityperson]

14. Thank you, it is getting difficult to tell.

[Aerows]

15. It really is n/t

[Lisa0825]

3. I take the pill to control terrible periods. I tried the generics because the copay was lower.

None of the ones I tried improved my symptoms as well as the ones that cost me $40 copays per month.

[kiss mah grits]

5. You're taking the Pill to improve another condition?

[jenmito]

7. My neice was prescribed the pill to stop painful periods, too. n/t

[myrna minx]

8. I'll take your medical ignorance at face value.

Birth control pills do treat endometriosis - a medical condition.

http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/endometriosis/sub2.cfm


http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/endometriosis.cfm

[pinboy3niner]

11. The poster was escorted from the building at the same time you posted :)

MIRT is on top of things!

[myrna minx]

13. It's like whack a mole for the MIRT team today!

Good job.

[Lisa0825]

9. Thank goodness... Account status: Posting privileges revoked

I miss the Tombstone theme though.

[myrna minx]

10. It's been a busy troll day!

[Kelvin Mace]

19. Somebody else must have dropped a dime on him

I did, and the jury voted 3-3, so he was kept. Another jury must have been less forgiving.

[Lisa0825]

23. ME TOO!! I was ticked! nt

[part man all 86]

12. is not the 2nd commandment about graven images of god an abomination, like this picture?

[myrna minx]

16. So we should be at the mercy of Walmart pricing? What if tomorrow they decide

to quadruple that price? I can't believe this is even a discussion we're having.

Women's healthcare shouldn't be decided my "the market".

[Kelvin Mace]

17. Let's look at someone making minimum wage

$7.25 an hour means $1,160 a month.

Knock off about 30% for taxes, FICA, etc, and we now have $812.

Rent? In 2000, the last year I can quickly find a figure for, the median U.S. apartment rent was $602.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-21.pdf

We now have $210 left.

Utilities - $150 per month, leaving $60.

Food? One McD's value meal per day, $6, x 30 days $180.

Now at -$120.

Haven't factored in for clothes, gas, insurance, car expenses/bus fare.

See a problem?

OK, let's try "per capita" income, which is 27,000K a year.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

We come up with a more generous $2,250 a month, $1,575 after taxes:

Rent: $602
Utilities: $150
Health Insurance: $400 ( I am basing this on what I pay)
Food: $450 ($15 a day)
Car Payment: $250
Car Insurance: $100
Gas: $180 (1 tank a week, 12 gallons at $3.75)

Oops, I am already up to $1,832 and we are back in the hole, and we haven't accounted for insurance co-pays, clothes, or any form of entertainment.

OK, restart, we get a room mate, and cut rent, utils, and car expenses in half, which means we are finally "in the black" with $1,491 against our net income of $1,575, leaving us a "cushion" of $84 a month.

That $9 birth control prescription represents over 10% of our total "discretionary" income.

And that $84 must cover doctor visits (need one to get a prescription), personal needs (tampons, toilet paper, soap, tooth paste/floss (better use it, because dental is not included in your insurance plan), clothes, and you ARE saving money for an "emergency" aren't you?

When all else fails, do the math.

[joshcryer]

20. "One McD's value meal per day"

Wow.

How about instead one Banquett dinner a day?

$2 * 30 = $60

Assuming really unhealthy eating both ways.

[Kelvin Mace]

24. Doesn't much help in any case

You really can't on minimum wage in this country.

[Mumble]

21. Use Mitt Romney as an example

Net worth $250,000,000.
Age 65.
Say he lives to age 90.
He can spend 10 million dollars every year and have plenty of money left over for birth control pills.
That is if you don't raise his taxes too much.

[Kelvin Mace]

25. That would be true if he ate into his capital

No need, since it is generating about $20 million a year.

Trim off 20% for taxes (sales, property, capital gains, etc) he has $16 million left over.

That leaves him a paltry $43,835 per DAY to live on. Our per capita income earner has to get by on $52 a day, or 0.1% of what Romney makes.

[Bigmack]

22. Wow... that's killer. I'm saving that for other responses, too. Thanks. nt

[Arkansas Granny]

26. IMO, it's not about the cost as much as it is the fact that your employer can

get involved in and have control of your health care decisions. The people who want this are the same ones who were crying the loudest about "death panels" and wanting to keep government out of health care decisions. Their hypocrisy is almost as stunning as their ignorance.

[baldguy]

27. And what happens when Walmart caves to the American Taliban?

Walmart is not selling the Pill at $9/mo out of the goodness of their heart. They're doing it because they can make a profit doing it. Once it stops being profitable, or begins to effect other aspects of their business, they'll stop.

Anyone's access to health care shouldn't be dependent on the acquiescence of her employer, or the largess of a massive corporation.

[RockaFowler]

28. It's not $9 a month by the way

You have to get a certain prescription from your doctor. Most doctors won't prescribe that pill because it's not very effective. I take a generic and it costs $29 a month with a Prescription card from WalGreen's. My doctor told me that the one that WalGreen's prefers (for $20 by the way) won't work for me. I like most women use it for not only birth control, but irregular periods.

But as you see I have to get a Prescription plan from WalGreen's because I have shitty insurance that doesn't cover anything. It's catastrophic care only with a really high deductible. So my hubby and I pay extra to WalGreen's to get the prescriptions at a reduced rate.

And any man who is against contraception can blow it out their ears. Or even better - wrap it. But those guys don't want to do that. So we women have to do it.

[Kelvin Mace]

30. Plus, there is the $35 co-pay

for the appointment with your gyno to get the prescription in the first place.

Most men are so freaking clueless about women's reproductive health issues it shames me to be a member of the sex.

[Mass]

29. They are counting on the fact that it is not that expensive. But for some women, it is.

[Kelvin Mace]

32. And like most conservative arguments

it ignores lots of realities.

In the theocracy the Right wishes to establish, a woman would face the challenges of:

1) Living in a state were hormonal birth control was legal.

2) Finding a doctor willing to prescribe it.

3) Finding a pharmacist willing to dispense it.

4) Having an employer willing to pay for it.

5) Or having the money to pay for it.

If hormonal BC is outlawed, she would then have to pay black market prices to get it, and risk imprisonment to use it.

Welcome to 1967 Romania, and Decree 770, where The Handmaid's Tale was a documentary, not dystopian cautionary fiction.

[JNinWB]

31. The 9.00 per month claim means that women do not need contraception covered by insurance...

It seems that this assertion is made mostly by males who don't understand how contraceptive coverage works. They always leave out the physical examination and prescription requirement.

Many doctors require an annual physical--including mammo, pap smear, blood work, etc---before writing a new prescription for bc pills. So, women can't simply walk into the store and grab their monthly supply off the shelf.

Perhaps, the FDA could take certain brands/dosages of the pills off prescription (behind the counter) so that women with no access to doctors and prescriptions could still be able to buy contraception. Surely, some of the earlier, and well-tested formulations, could be considered safe enough for OTC.

[Sheepshank]

33. If it's such a small amount, why is there not full coverage for something so important? n/t

[csziggy]

34. Many if not MOST women use hormones as medication not as birth control

So the objection that the pills could be used as contraceptives is irrelevant. But having to ask the employer's permission to get the medication prescribed by her doctor forces the woman to discuss private medical information with her employer.

How would men with erectile dysfunction feel if they had to discuss their inability to get it up with their possibly female boss and beg for permission from HER to get their little blue pills? Probably a lot of men would rather be hunting up the number for the company that keeps Bob happy than going to their doctors.

Oh, yeah, Bob's product was found to be ineffective:

"Smiling Bob" Not Smiling Anymore
The makers of the erectile dysfunction product popularized by the "Smiling Bob" ads will pay $2.5 million and provide consumers restitution to settle a multi-state enforcement action that alleges the defendants made unsubstantiated claims about dietary supplements' effectiveness and automatically billed consumers for products they never requested.

"Smiling Bob may have been happy, but many customers were not," said California Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

"The defendants violated consumer protection laws that rest on a simple principle: businesses must deal with people fairly and honestly. This settlement will prevent further violations and compensate consumers harmed by the defendants' practices."
More: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/03/smiling_bob.html

I don't see why this concept does not violate federal HIPAA rules, anyway, since it forces women to reveal their private health information with non-medical people. Why should it be any business of her boss WHY a woman needs hormone treatment? Birth control is only one of the uses and even that is none of their business!

[Bigmack]

35. Many men are clueless....

...Husband's note on refrigerator to his wife:
Someone from the Guyna College called.
They said Pabst beer is normal.