Did you hear that Ortho-McNeil, one of the largest makers of birth control products like the pill and the patch, has just hiked its prices by 1800%?
No one much noticed, but thousands of family-planning clinics across the country went into a tailspin last month. They were reacting to a drastic price increase by Ortho-McNeil, a major supplier of birth-control pills and maker of the popular contraceptive patch. The company used to charge publicly funded clinics as little as a penny a pack for the pills. Then, as of July 1, the price of some pills jumped to more than $18 a pack. Ortho's move was apparently legal under federal pricing rules. But it's anybody's guess as to why the company chose to do this now, without giving the clinics any real notice.
No one much noticed, indeed. Why hasn't this been getting major coverage? Oh, wait - because it only affects low-income women. Duh.
