Glad I Read This Now...

[martian687]

I've been paying out-of-pocket for private insurance since Interbots went full-time, back in 2006. Good thing a baby hasn't been in my plans.

I had always assumed if I got pregnant by accident I would have a choice, but a $500 pill from planned parenthood vs. a $22K delivery is not really a choice when you've got < $1000 in your bank account. I

Comments

[komaheian]

I have a friend involved in the marketing campaign for one of the morning after pills and it's not anywhere near $500 per dose. So, I'm confused.

[erinpie]

The morning after pill, levonorgestrel, is [relatively] cheap - and sometimes free - but it does not work if you're pregnant!! It is not an abortion pill; since it is synthetic progesterone, and progesterone is needed in pretty high amounts to maintain a pregnancy, you'd just be giving your body what it already makes and needs to stay pregnant. Mifepristone is not cheap (around the $500 Seema mentioned, but could be lower or higher) and will end a pregnancy - it blocks progesterone receptors, which means your body can't use the progesterone it's making and thus can't continue the pregnancy.

So, if a hypothetical woman finds herself pregnant and needs to end the pregnancy, Plan B will do nothing for her.

[komaheian]

hence the confusion. I always know when I've had significant risk and either take 'plan B' or sweat it out. (sweat it out = wait anxiously until I find out I'm not pregnant.)

[erinpie]

I think that's beside the point- the question is about what the options are once somebody is already pregnant. Although I agree with you that Plan B should be considered as an option to prevent pregnancy before it occurs, once you're pregnant the prices in Seema's post are correct.

[martian687]

Yeah, I got the $500 approximation from this site which says that in 2001, the average cost of a medical abortion was $487. This site, dated April 2008, says the cost ranges from $350-$575.

13% of medical abortions were covered by private insurance. I'm guessing that if a private insurance plan is too shitty to fully cover a pregnancy, it probably won't cover abortions either.