Jack Cafferty Calls Birth Control "Lifestyle Choice"

[compaqowner]

The health care funding of meds for dis-function over birth control shows that procreation lobby is very strong at getting drugs like viagra out on the market and not RU486 and other birth control or anti-conception drugs on the market. The world would be a better place without a bunch of fuck happy men making more babies to an overly populated planet. too bad they don't require a license for child birth. My rule is pay more taxes or have fewer kids. If you need to fuck you need to pay.

[lolomcspanky]

Many, many women take birth control to regulate their menstrual cycles. It's about the only thing that can be used for this. And I get that you agree it should be covered, my point was just that it's more common that most people seem to realize. If you have almost any menstrual problem - irregularity, extreme pain, bad PMS - your ob/gyn will prescribe birth control as standard practice. They even prescribe it for acne. My point is, there are lots of uses besides contraception.

[lolomcspanky]

You're wrong about birth control... the "special cases" in which birth control is used medically are not that uncommon. Also, bc prevents ovarian cancer for all women. I guess not having cancer is a "lifestyle choice" too.

[Corporations8MyBaby]

If a girl is raped and she takes the morning after pill... preventing pregnancy from EVER happening... that's not a lifestyle choice, that's medicine.  Shame on you Jack. You know your friends use Viagra to party.

[Wendy62]

Cafferty's right the same way Bill Clinton was right when he said that he did not have sex with Monica Lewinsky. It's a technicality which ignores the reality of the situation.

I agree with you though, insurance should definitely cover birth control.

[iamtheboha]

Birth control pills aren't just used for birth control, for some conditions the prescription is what is techically a "birth control" pill even though it isn't being used for "birth control", but even in these cases insurance companies don't cover them.

[lolomcspanky]

You are correct, I was prescribed birth control as a young teenager (long before I ever had sex), because I had an ovarian cyst which was both incredibly painful, and nearly required surgery. Instead, it took so long for me to get medical care that it ruptured and bled out internally, which was really fun way for a frightened girl to spend her summer vacation.

The pills was prescribed to prevent it happening again. Insurance wouldn't cover it.

[moejardines]

Hehehe, that's hilarious. Both are prescribed by doctors, and frankly the birth control saves money all the way around. Viagra is commonly used as a recreational drug, and its being financed by insurance. Birth control should be free for anybody who wants it, because it prevents abortion. I'm pro choice, but I recognize abortion as a necessary evil. Its stupid to not acknowledge that people will fuck no matter what. The Catholic church is batting a 1000 with this and molestation.

[lockemonkey]

Nearly everything is a lifestyle choice, viagra included. Some people learn to live with their medical conditions, others choose medication.

I choose to fuck, not breed.

[zzzxxyy]

Regardless, birth control should be covered by healthcare. What if she is raped and becomes pregnant? What if she couldn't afford the pills, even if she works full time? Agreed, birth control is a lifestyle choice, but then again, Viagra is abused and turned into "recreational choice". Viagra should also be covered, but some guys grind it and snort it. Just ask Rush Limbaugh.

[eljefereal]

I think what makes this complicated... is the fact that on the surface of the statement Cafferty is right. Birth control (as advertised) is not treatment for an affliction while Viagra is. Now if birth control medication happens to solve other problems, and insurance companies deny coverage that would treat those problems, you have a much stronger case.

[eljefereal]

Where this can become dangerous is the idea that childbirth is an affliction to be medically prevented. In other words pregnancy is a sickness to be treated as opposed to a natural human function. I think that can take you down a very contentious and very dangerous road.

[lolomcspanky]

There's no if. Birth control does solve multiple medical conditions, and insurance companies do deny coverage. Birth control also prevents ovarian cancer, protection that lasts long after a woman stops taking the pill. Erectile dysfunction may be a medical condition, but I seriously doubt it's as painful or dangerous as the medical conditions for which birth control was prescribed to me. Insurance did not cover them, even though I was not sexually active and it was strictly medical.

[eljefereal]

I know that birth control pills do those sorts of things. I think insurance should cover the costs when used for cancer prevention, hormonal balancing, those sorts of uses.

My point is "Should insurance companies cover birth control pills used exclusively to prevent pregnancy?" That's where this gets interesting.

[lolomcspanky]

They should cover it if they want to be smart with their finances. Birth control for a year is a lot cheaper than an unwanted pregnancy every year. Of course, the new tactic for many plans is to flat-out not cover any prenatal care, and if you ask me THAT is where it gets interesting.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with women just paying for bc. The hypocrisy and total lack of logical reasoning that bother me. How can you be against abortion, bc, and prenatal care all at once?

[BlackKingX]

Birth Control IS a lifestyle choice.

[lolomcspanky]

You're right, not having ovarian cysts so that I can be a functioning member of society, and not getting ovarian cancer are lifestyle choices. By that logic, penicillin, chemotherapy, and any other medical treatment is also a lifestyle choice.

[BlackKingX]

You're wrong though. Sex is a choice(Except when it's rape, and most people don't plan ahead for when they get raped.), getting a disease isn't.

[lolomcspanky]

Right, so if I take birth control for a disease, it's not a lifestyle choice, is it?  Or did you mean to say "I'm wrong," it's easy to make that mistake.

[BlackKingX]

I'm curious, would you call condoms a lifestyle choice or a medical treatment?

[lolomcspanky]

What diseases do condoms treat?

[BlackKingX]

I'm curious, would you call condoms a lifestyle choice or a medical treatment?

[lolomcspanky]

Once again, I wasn't aware that condoms treat any diseases. Perhaps my sarcasm in declaring chemotherapy a lifestyle choice confused you. Let me be clear: you said yourself "sex is a choice, getting a disease isn't." I did not choose to get PCOS, for which I was prescribed birth control. As medicine, to treat a disease.

[BlackKingX]

I just checked and birth control is only one possible treatment for PCOS. Its treatment of PCOS is also only a side effect of the pill itself. It's like taking certain flu medications to throw up and not to cure the flu like they were designed to do.

There are other medications designed to treat PCOS that health insurance companies probably cover... and guess what? They won't be used as contraceptives by people that just want to have pregnancy free sex for cheaper!

[lolomcspanky]

No other medication was offered to me. Insurance did not cover it. I was just a child and not sexually active at the time. How was that a lifestyle choice? I have also been prescribed birth control for amenorrhea, and there is no other treatment I'm aware of for irregular menstrual cycles - and I have asked 7 different ob/gyns for alternatives, as I hate taking birth control. Even if an alternative exists, it's not commonly used.

[blair227]

McBush=further disaster.