Wednesday, January 29, 2014

ObamaCare's Free Contraception Mandate

What if I told you that you could buy any new car, from any lot,  and I'll pay for it.  Do you think you'd pick the cheapest thing you could find?  Of course not.  Well, the same is true with ObamaCare's free contraception mandate.

Currently, women using contraceptives pay between $40 a year for the generic "pill" to as much as $1000 for other more convenient and newer forms of contraception.  The decision as to what form of contraception a woman uses is typically based on a doctor's recommendation, medicinal tolerance, efficacy, convenience, and, most importantly, affordability. 

The problem with ObamaCare is that, like the new car example, it puts no limits on costs.  As a result, women will gravitate to many of the more expensive products that had once been out of their financial reach.  The result will be ever rising costs for contraception; and, the insurers will be forced, by mandate, to cover it.  But, ultimately, those higher costs will be passed on to you and I in the form of higher insurance premiums.

There is also a more sinister possibility behind any increased expense associated with free contraception. The manufacturers of contraceptives, knowing full well that the insurers can't balk on  any increases, are now free to raise prices without impunity.
So, by the time the bureaucrats in Washington realize what a mess they've made with contraceptive costs spiraling out of control, it will be too late.  Many of the cheaper or generic birth control manufacturers will have stopped producing their products for lack of sales. Then, too, the politicians, especially those on the left, won't want to rein in prices and cut back on higher priced contraception because it might cost them votes.

The decision to go with free birth control was solely based on garnering the woman's vote with no regard as to what would happen down the road, and, if the Republicans balked, the Democrats would just use that as proof that the GOP are conducting a war on women.  But, the true war on women will be exposed when single mothers or women in traditional family settings have to pay more and more for the health care needed to protect their families.

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