Congress Screws Up - Who Would Believe It ?

I know this is going to be hard for anyone to believe, but the United States Congress seems to have screwed up. That screw-up has caused the cost of drugs, especially birth control pills, to go way up for college students. Birth control pills now cost college students up to 8 times as much now as they did in 2005.

The pills that once cost college students $5-10, are now costing them $40-50. The reason for this is because of a bill passed by Congress in 2005. Before this bill was passed, college's could get discounted drugs from the drug companies, and these savings were passed on to the students.

This was a good thing. With the high cost of even state colleges, many students are doing good just to meet the bills for tuition and books. They don't have the extra money to spend on other things, such as birth control. Since no one, not even pro-choice people, want to see more abortions, the cheap birth control pills were a boon.

But the deficit-reduction bill of 2005 included a section that prevented colleges from getting the discounted drugs from the drug companies. No one seems to know why they did it, but it was done. Now the cost of the pills has sky-rocketed on campuses, and many can't afford them -- especially those without insurance.

Senators Barack Obama and Claire McCaskill say this was a legislative error that Congress never intended. They have introduced a bill to fix the problem. So far, there is no real opposition to their bill.

McCaskill hits the nail on the head when she says, "Allowing drug companies to give away drugs at a cheaper price is something we should be encouraging everywhere. I don't think there is significant opposition because it's a technical fix. If they call, I'd say, hey, this is one we ought to agree on. We're not talking about providing birth control in grade school, for gosh sakes. We're talking about women who are old enough to lose their lives for us in Iraq."