Is there "moral hazard" in free contraception?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That is, will the availability of free contraception through health insurance cause women to spend more than they otherwise would, now that it's Other\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is there "moral hazard" in free contraception?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"That is, will the availability of free contraception through health insurance cause women to spend more than they otherwise would, now that it's Other\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-08T12:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html\",\"name\":\"Is there \\\"moral hazard\\\" in free contraception?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-08T12:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-08T12:34:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"That is, will the availability of free contraception through health insurance cause women to spend more than they otherwise would, now that it's Other\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is there “moral hazard” in free contraception?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is there \"moral hazard\" in free contraception?","description":"That is, will the availability of free contraception through health insurance cause women to spend more than they otherwise would, now that it's Other","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is there \"moral hazard\" in free contraception?","og_description":"That is, will the availability of free contraception through health insurance cause women to spend more than they otherwise would, now that it's Other","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2014-07-08T12:34:00+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html","name":"Is there \"moral hazard\" in free contraception?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-07-08T12:34:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-08T12:34:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"That is, will the availability of free contraception through health insurance cause women to spend more than they otherwise would, now that it's Other","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is there “moral hazard” in free contraception?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":387,"date":"2014-07-08T12:34:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T12:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html"},"modified":"2014-07-08T12:34:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-08T12:34:00","slug":"is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/is-there-moral-hazard-in-free-contraception.html","title":{"rendered":"Is there “moral hazard” in free contraception?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

That is, will the availability of free contraception through health insurance cause women to spend more than they otherwise would, now that it\u2019s Other People\u2019s Money?<\/p>\n

I had observed the other day<\/a> that the actual goal of declaring all contraception Free! \u00a0Free! \u00a0Free! seems to be to move more women onto the IUD and implants because of their lower risk of user failures. <\/p>\n

Are these methods actually cost-effective, over time? \u00a0In principle, if the Mirena IUD costs approximately $1,000, and lasts for 5 years, then that\u2019s $200 per year, or $17 per month, which is, from what I understand, a good deal. \u00a0Only if IUDs become the norm, even for women who are not good candidates and seek to have them removed early in the five-year period does it become expensive.<\/p>\n

What about brand vs. generic? \u00a0I came across guidelines from a major insurer, in looking for details the other day, which indicated that they will only provide brand-name pills if a doctor certifies that a patient has unacceptable side effects in using the generic. \u00a0(Whether doctors do this for any patient who requests it, I don\u2019t know.)<\/p>\n

What about barriers vs. hormonal methods? \u00a0My guess is that people choose one or the other based on personal preference rather than cost. \u00a0Will there be women who aren\u2019t in sexual relationships but want to keep their options open, or are in a long-distance relationship, who will choose a pill now, even if they hadn\u2019t before, because it\u2019s free (and perhaps because of desirable side effects, like regular or no periods)? \u00a0It seems likely to me.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the irony: \u00a0the one set of users who could potentially take advantage of the Free! \u00a0Free! stuff in a moral-hazardly sort of way are fertility-awareness method users. \u00a0There are a number of devices which have been approved and are in use in Europe, such as the Persona fertility monitor, on Amazon for GBP 55, plus GBP 10 for an 8-pack of refill test strips. \u00a0The concept here is similar to the ovulation test kits that couples can buy when they\u2019re trying to conceive, but with, of course, the reverse guidance, and is certified, in the UK, as 94% effective at avoiding pregnancy. <\/p>\n

Why this hasn\u2019t been approved by the FDA isn\u2019t clear to me; I don\u2019t know whether the manufacturer simply never thought it would be worth the effort, or if the FDA\u2019s guidelines mean that it wouldn\u2019t meet some criteria or another (such as being idiot-proofed) for contraception. <\/p>\n

But if it were approved, this would be a significant market, and a potential movement from low-tech charting to an ongoing expense every bit as high as the pill. <\/p>\n

Second question: \u00a0is there a risk that contraception manufactures will determine that they can now increase their prices as much as they wish, especially for single-source drugs and devices, like the Mirena or the implants? \u00a0After all, if the insurer is required to cover Mirena, then they\u2019d be trapped, right? \u00a0I suppose time will tell, but I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if the pricetag starts increasing, with, as seems to be the case often enough, special price reductions for the uninsured, to soak up as much of the insurance premium as possible.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"