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Clinics: Norplant cost chokes services.


 Norplant sales are booming, but some family planning officials are complaining that the contraceptive device's manufacturer, Wyeth Ayerst, should reduce Norplant's price so that all women can afford it. Under current national health policy and practice, rich women can afford to buy Norplant if they want it, while Medicaid will cover the cost for poor women. Women who do not have enough money to pay the median upfront fee of $580 for the device, yet are not covered by Medicaid, however, have to do without. The fee of $580 includes insertion charges and is, over the five-year period for which Norplant remains functional, less expensive than other modern methods of contraception. Wyeth has invested considerable resources into product materials, training, and counseling, and is not about to reduce its prices. Even public family planning clinics pay the $300 retail price of the Norplant rods despite the fact that all other contraceptives are sold to such clinics at a discount. Women caught in the middle can somehow find enough money for Norplant if they truly desire the method. For extreme cases where physicians have patients who cannot afford the contraceptive and are not covered by insurance, Wyeth helped create the Norplant Foundation to which it has contributed $5.6 million over the last two years and donated 10,000 sets of the implant. The Alan Guttmacher Institute has otherwise suggested providing Norplant on an installment pay plan. The article notes that family planning programs in developing countries run by USAID or the UN receive Norplant for an average of $23 from the Finland-based international manufacturer, Leiras Oy. The paper also points out that women who have Norplant inserted through private insurance coverage or Medicaid may no longer be employed or have lost Medicaid coverage because of increased income when the time comes to remove the implant. Norplant removal generally costs $150.
