Health insurance: special notice for women

[lcmatl]

So I've been checking out the student health insurance plan offered by my law school versus the one offered by the ABA. I noticed that the one offered by my school does NOT offer copays for birth control pills. So annoying. Luckily, the ABA one does offer copays for the pill.

Just a notice for the women out there who might be interested in such coverage to read the fine print carefully before choosing a plan.

[dave303]

Unless you have a recurrent condition like diabetes it's best to just have insurance that covers emergency expenses like accidents or serious illnesses and pay out of pocket for little stuff. The problem with the ABA insurance is that their standard policy has a maximum benefit of 20,000 dollars. If you get hit by a car and you have 100,000 in hospital bills those $100 birth control pills wont seem like such a bargain.

[ElizaB]

Who has $100 birth control pills?  Most of them aren't anywhere near that expensive!  Even the most expensive ones that just came out and don't have a generic still aren't anywhere near $100!

[LaneSwerver]

When I worked in pharmacy, the most expensive ones were $30. The cheapest generics were $12.

[lcmatl]

Actually, the ABA does offer an optional add-on for major illness/injury, which I think covers up to $200,000 or so in major medical expenses.

And you're right: the pill is generally inexpensive, even w/o a copay, but on a more general level I like the comfort of having a decent health insurance plan should anything unexpected happen.

[HippieLawChick]

I am going to be hating this in law school.  I have really bad allergies and I am sure I will be paying tons for my antihistimines and stuff.  Birth control will be the least of my problems, but I still think that it's Bull that most plans pay for maternity care, but won't pay a lousy $30 a month to avoid that expense!

[laur0212]

Going through this thread makes me seriously consider keeping my Cobra insurance.  Apparently I can stay on it another two and a half years.  It's costing me a fortune, but besides my BC pills, I also have to take 20mg of Adderall once a day.  Market price for that is like $250, hence why I NEED health insurance. 

I'm gonna have to check out Rutgers' health insurance plan.  I wonder if the fact that NJ is so much more liberal than GA will make a difference in terms of whether or not they offer a copay for BC pills.

[helendemilo]

I would read the fine print on your Cobra carefully.  I don't know that you can keep it if you move out of your home state.  It specifically says that if I move out of the area, my Cobra coverage ends. 

I have mine in California, but it only allows me to stay on my current health plan, which has offices only in southern California.  When I move to the east coast, I won't be able to keep my Cobra insurance.

[Javert]

I still think that it's Bull that most plans pay for maternity care, but won't pay a lousy $30 a month to avoid that expense!

I have a friend in the business. I asked about this once, and he said the theory goes like this: Once a baby is born, the mother will most likely insure it with her current provider; the insurance companies figure they'll make the money back in short order, in most cases. Paying for maternity care, from their perspective, is more an investment than an expense.  Perversely, the insurance companies have an incentive to make it difficult for women to avoid pregnancy.

[ElizaB]

Going through this thread makes me seriously consider keeping my Cobra insurance.  Apparently I can stay on it another two and a half years.  It's costing me a fortune, but besides my BC pills, I also have to take 20mg of Adderall once a day.  Market price for that is like $250, hence why I NEED health insurance. 

I'm gonna have to check out Rutgers' health insurance plan.  I wonder if the fact that NJ is so much more liberal than GA will make a difference in terms of whether or not they offer a copay for BC pills.

On the Adderrall thing, get the generic.  The generic is about $15 and with insurance is about $5.  On Adderall, the generic does not make a difference.  On Ritalin it does make a difference, but not on Adderall...unless you are on the Adderall XR because the Adderall XR (extended release) just came out.  And if one generic gives you side effects (like headaches), try another.  The different generics actually look different so you should just be able to go to a pharmacy and say, "I don't want the generic that looks like this" and they also tell you the manufacturer on the bottle so you can always request a different generic manufacturer.  It may mean having to go to a different pharmacy because pharmacys typically carry only one generic. Adderall has been around for forever so the generics are pretty good.  On drugs that just came out, this may not be the case, though.  D-Amphetamine salt combo is one of the generic for Adderall made by Barr.