Fact Sheet: Erickson v. Bartell Drug Co.

FACT SHEET: ERICKSON V. BARTELL DRUG CO.

The outcome of the landmark Erickson v. Bartell Drug Co. lawsuit, filed July 19, 2000 in Washington State, is expected to have significant impact on women’s reproductive health policy in the United States. A look at the following facts reveals the potential impact of the case:

Contraception is a basic health care need.

60 million women in the U. S. are in their childbearing years, aged 15 to 44.

42 million American women – 7 in 10 – who are in their childbearing years are sexually active and do not wish to become pregnant.

One of the major barriers to universal contraceptive access is that contraceptives can be expensive. For example, costs for supplies alone can run approximately $360 per year for oral contraceptives; $380 per year for Depo-Provera; $700 for Norplant; and $400 for an IUD.

A woman who wants only two children, as do most women in the U.S., will have to use contraception for roughly three decades of her life.

Lack of insurance coverage for contraceptive services is a widespread problem in the United States.

Half of all traditional indemnity (fee-for-service) insurance plans in the U.S. do not cover any reversible contraception. Only 15 percent of these plans cover all five prescription contraceptive methods – oral contraceptives (The Pill), IUD, Norplant, Depo-Provera and diaphragm.

While 97 percent of all traditional indemnity plans cover prescription drugs, only 33 percent cover "The Pill."

While traditional health maintenance organizations (HMOs) offer the most comprehensive contraceptive coverage, 7 percent of HMOs do not cover prescription contraceptives and only 39 percent cover all five types.

Women of reproductive age currently spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men, and much of this gender gap is due to reproductive health-related costs.

Full contraceptive coverage in health plans would be inexpensive, and a popular choice among health insurance consumers.

Providing full contraceptive coverage in employment-based health care plans would cost employers, at most, only $21.40 per employee per year. For employers with plans that currently provide no contraceptive coverage, the average cost of adding it, if employers contributed 80 percent of the cost, would be $17.12 per year or $1.43 per month.

78 percent of privately insured adults support full contraceptive coverage in their health insurance plans, even if it would increase their costs by $5 per month, according to a nationwide poll.

Increasing the availability and affordability of contraceptives can help reduce this nation’s high rate of unplanned pregnancies.

For almost 3 million women, or 50 percent of all women who become pregnant each year in the U.S., pregnancy is an unplanned and often unwanted occurrence in their lives.

Unplanned pregnancies lead to 1.4 million abortions and another 1.2 million births every year in the U.S.

Contraception is also a critical contributor to improved children’s health.

The United States has alarmingly high infant mortality and low-birthweight rates, both of which are associated with unintended conception.

Women who experience unintended pregnancies are less likely than other women to receive adequate prenatal care, resulting in greater risks to their health and poorer birth outcomes.

Sources: Alan Guttmacher Institute; Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences; Planned Parenthood Federation of America.