She's On The Money - The Cost Of Contraception

Episode Date: April 18, 2023

One in two women will experience an unplanned pregnancy in their lifetime. More than half of these women were using at least one form of contraception at the time. Currently, Australia has a Senate Enquiry into Reproductive Healthcare which is highlighting the problems with access and cost options for women across the country. So we thought we'd have a bigger conversation on the show about the cost and accessibility of different types of contraception, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and so much more. Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money.

She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Recently, you guys slid into our DMs on one of our Friday episodes about who should pay for contraception. And there also is currently a Senate inquiry into reproductive health care in Australia. So we thought we should have a bigger conversation on the show about this because it doesn't need to be talked about. Victoria, you've got some feelings. I have feelings, Bec. And you are with us as ever. So let's hear them.

I have so many big feelings and I think that today's episode is very, very welcome because today we are not only just talking about contraception, but who should pay for it, how hard it is to access and what the costs and stat on this 100% vital and basic human right is and are. And I'm really excited about it because I feel like it's not just a conversation that extends to women having sex with men, like it's women who are sexually active, men who are sexually active, just people who are sexually active in general. And you and I have had this conversation offline where it just gets a bit weird, like who pays for what in different circumstances. And I hope that this can help you guys, I guess, clear it up, but not only clear it

up, but have cleaner and easier conversations around it. Like it shouldn't be a topic where it's icky. It should just be a conversation where it's kind of like, have we got milk in the fridge? And you go, yeah, there's milk in the fridge. And then like, that's the end of the conversation. And it's not a, he said, she said, like, it's just what it is, if that makes sense. I want to start off this whole episode, Bec, by just, I guess, framing a few things. So it is vital, obviously, to protect against STDs and STIs, and that is a given. But this conversation is mostly looking at contraception, of which barrier protections are also used. And it should always, always, always be okay to discuss this with your partner. And if not, Bec, red flag.

Red flag. Biggest red flag in the entire world. It is all too common for conversations around women's bodies to be weaponized in abusive relationships. And that is a big red no-no from me. And if you need support, we have linked to 1-800-RESPECT in our notes. And please, please, please get support from someone you trust. Bec, every single person's body is different. So support from your GP or doctor about what contraception is right for you is going to be really important as well. And just because it works for one person, which we'll probably discuss today, it might send somebody else absolutely batty like it has done for me. And that doesn't mean it is

the right fit for you. So I feel like conversations, you know, at brunch with your girlfriends where you're like, oh my gosh, what have you got? And you're like, oh, I've got the Mirena. Like, it's not the best way to decide what type of contraception you should or could have. It's actually really important to discuss this with a healthcare professional and somebody who can put you in, I guess, the driver's seat, not just your friend being like, oh, it works great for me you should get it too because that happened with the implanon in my arm and then I bled for three months straight and I went absolutely ape shit like it was one out of ten cannot recommend my gosh that sounds so brutal yeah but you know when you're just like why is this working for all

of my friends and then when I went back to my regular GP he was like yeah like why did you go to some other GP and get this and I was like oh because I looked them up and they were like you know, female reproductive specialists. And that made sense. And he was like, yeah, but I could have told you that wasn't going to work for you because this other contraception didn't work for you. And I was like, well, could have just kept my healthcare consistent and we wouldn't have a problem. Could have saved a bit of money. Yeah. Bit of money, bit of time, bit of stress, a lot of anger. A lot of anger. But that is okay. And I mean, to really just reiterate that, Bec, it's not a one size fits all and your contraceptive needs are as unique as you are. So talk to someone who

knows what they're talking about at Not Just Your Mates. When I was single, Bec, it was actually about me protecting me. But then as soon as I was in a relationship, that really changed. And it became my view that contraception is a cost of being in a relationship and that goes for everybody. But in that episode, Jess then said, oh, well, I've always paid for it. And she uses the pills. So it's not, quote, that expensive for her in her circumstances with her financial situation. but we're all different. And I guess that's why it's important to open up this conversation. And when you suggested we did a whole episode on this, I was like, actually, that's a really good idea, Bec. Thank you, V.

Smart woman. Oh my goodness. And it's funny too, because I think that I went away and thought about it and I was like, okay, I don't need to use contraception for the traditional reasons, but I have considered it to stop my period because periods can be annoying and for all these other reasons. And so it's not just for exactly as you say, one person, one type of person for one type of reason. It can be for anyone. I love, Bec, that you're like, I've thought about using contraception to stop my period, and I'm like the exact opposite. I, at my whole entire soul, am just really hippy-dippy. Like, I just would be like, no, don't stop your period. That's natural. We should be talking about

regulating your hormones and having a really consistent and beautiful period. And you're like, cut it out. Put it in the bin. Let's not do it. I don't want to do it ever again, but I know it is. Stop that. And I'm like, do you know your fertility cycle? Like I'm one of those hippy dippy people. I know when I'm ovulating, not because I track it, because I can feel it. Wow. It's wild. That is actually very impressive.

I remember saying that to a doctor a little while ago, because recently I've shared a bit about our fertility journey online. And I won't go into that here. But it's funny because when you start talking to doctors about fertility, they're like, oh, obviously tracking your ovulation is great. I'm like, oh, no, I know when I ovulate. And I thought that was normal. And they were like, what do you mean? I was like, you know, the little pop that you get maybe like 12 to 14 days after your period ends. And they're like, what?

I'm like, yeah, sometimes it's the left ovary, sometimes it's the right. Oh, they're like, what app do you use? No, no, I feel it. I can feel it. And turns out that's not normal. That's not normal. It's impressive, though. It's very impressive.

If only we could all be. It's like a little flex. I don't know what it does for me when you can literally just track it. But yeah. Saves you time. Anyway, we'll have another conversation about that later. We will. Off mic.

Let's have a conversation about it. So, V, I've read that in Australia, one in two women will experience an unplanned pregnancy in their lifetime. More than half of these women were using at least one form of contraception at that time. That info is from MSI Australia, formerly known as Marie Stopes. Yeah, they're a really good place for research and stuff like that. But I guess that kind of leads into that's the research, Bec,

But it's interesting as well, because I think we all in some form know someone who's gotten pregnant unexpectedly. Like I remember in grade 12, one of the girls got pregnant. She was one of my girlfriends and she ended up having, honestly, the most beautiful baby. And she's like killed it at life since then. I remember her being like fully nine months pregnant while we're doing our year 12 exams at the end of the year. And she was just like the best hustler you've ever known.

Anyway, I remember her circumstance. she, I'm pretty sure she used contraception, but then she also took the morning after pill and still stayed pregnant. Wow. That baby was meant to be here. Yeah, turns out. Like wild. But I've also had a number of other girlfriends experience unplanned pregnancies. And whilst it can be really stressful, it doesn't mean that contraception is always 100 percent right. Absolutely. This is probably a bit controversial, but I'm wondering, what do you reckon if there was something this common for men? Do you think it would be something that would be not discussed? It would just be automatically very accessible, very cheap. Both parties would pay. Like, do you think that if it

was the other way around and it was on the other foot and men had to take contraception, how do you think the position would change? Well, it's interesting because I don't know what you know about biology, Bec, but it actually, get this, takes two to tango and you actually need a male sperm and you need a female egg to create a baby. Don't believe it. I know, but unplanned pregnancy, like it's not going to happen in a female-female relationship, not going to happen in a male-male relationship, not going to happen in a lot of circumstances that I don't understand. But at the end of the day, guaranteed every single unplanned pregnancy came from those two things coming together. And it blows my mind that after two people choose to tango, it's then the female

having to take that responsibility. And it's apparently the female's responsibility to protect themselves and their one egg. Why is it my job as a female to protect my one egg that I get every single month, right? Like I could have sex literally every single day with a different person. And if I got pregnant, it would be with one person. A male could go and have sex every single day and get literally every single person every single day because he has millions of sperm and they regenerate, why is it not on him to protect him? That is so true. Why is it not his responsibility?

But it's my job to gatekeep my one egg. Like, what? That is so true. I'm the bad person if I have too much sex. Like, if I have too much sex, I'm seen to be maybe not as kosher as somebody who doesn't have as much sex. But when a guy does it, oh, get it, guys. Like, sorry, you could have got our entire country pregnant

at this point. Like, I don't understand. I don't even have that capacity. I have the capacity for having one baby in a nine-month period. Who knows if that baby is going to work out for me either because miscarriage is so high. But then also it's only with one person. You know the damage a dude could do in nine months?

I know, I know. That's so true. Why is it my responsibility? Yeah, and it's kind of like, you know, if you have a male dog, the male dog will be de-sexed because it's so... chopped off because they can go and impregnate multiple different exactly so why does it change when it's a human that's where the you know yeah exactly because we live in a patriarchal society beck is what it comes down to okay and i really think that if contraception was a male responsibility

it would just be second nature like you could probably just get the pill at the supermarket to be honest it'd probably be free at this point they'd be giving it out in schools like it's wild right like they give condoms out in schools and that's the type of contraception that is I guess the biggest responsibility for a male because they're not going to go to their GP and get a script for a pill that they can't take so that they go oh hey Beck I'd really like to have sex with you could you take this pill as our form of contraception like that's not romantic no exactly yeah hot right but like even the research going into male contraception I've been looking a lot into recently, and they're really worried about it because there's too many

side effects. But the side effect list of what men would experience if they took an oral contraceptive is less than a quarter of what the side effect list is for women who take oral contraceptives. Really? Yeah. Isn't that wild? But they're like, oh, that's a bit much for men. I wouldn't want to put them at that much risk. But you put me like, have you ever bought a pack of oral contraceptives and pulled out the facts sheet on that thing. Like if you've read it, you're basically going to die. Like every single like teeny tiny word on that thing is going, oh, you could die from this. You could die from that. You could also have a stroke. Also, you're probably going to have blood clot issues. You're probably going to have headaches. That's

just a given. You're going to die reading this pamphlet. You're going to die reading this paper because it's going to take so damn long. But men, a quarter of that, too much risk. I mean, We could go on and on about even just like the healthcare system and male thresholds. But Beck, of course, we also need, I'm not like trashing the pill here at all. I have been on oral contraceptives myself before and I know at some point in my life I'll probably go back on them. I'm not against them. I just think this concept that it's too risky for a man to take on a quarter of the risk

that women already take on and are expected to take on, right? like if you are a female having sex with men i know that a question you would be asked before you know having coitus is are you on the pill yeah they just straight outside are you on the pill as if it's an expectation that i would be putting my body through that so they don't have to use a condom on behalf of everyone like me i'm so sorry to you and what do you mean you're so sorry i'm just kidding you you lucky little shit anyway I think it's funny because you know the more you dig into it the wilder it gets and I am in a very grateful position where you know I'm married to my husband I adore him but he really gets it like he thinks it's wild too he's like why would you

put your body through that like it's a good question babe it's a very good question it's Fair question. So I could just use a condom and I'm like, why can't every male have this idea in their head that it's their responsibility as well? But again, I married well. Let's go back to what you were talking about at the start of this episode. You mentioned the current Senate inquiry into reproductive health care in Australia, Bec, and it's not wrapped up yet, but there have been some pretty alarming things that have

come out of that that really highlight the need for this to be further discussed. So let's get into a few of the dot points because not everybody is, I guess, as nerdy as me and has like read everything in that inquiry. So I can like cut it down. So first things first, doctors and pharmacy groups making submissions to the inquiry have actually warned that varying costs of contraception mean thousands of women are not accessing the best options for their health and called for more products to be added to the PBS, which is the pharmaceutical benefit scheme. and Professor Danielle Mazza is an advisor in women's health with the Royal Australian College of GPs.

She's actually called for a regulatory solution that gives Australians access to contraceptive options they need at low or no cost, very sexy, saying that they are, quote, essential to women's reproductive health. Oh, I like that. I feel like it's good, right? Yeah, that's really good. It kind of just makes sense.

Yeah, it does make sense. Because as we were saying before, if this was a male in this circumstance it would be free right i mean one can speculate yeah it would be free or it'd be super cheap because you wouldn't want to impact you know a man's ability to generate an income oh my gosh no that would be so rude i would die to see what the world would look like if men got pregnant i know right but you know can you imagine the like paternity leave cover if the men carried the babies they'd be like oh they're gonna need two years off they're going to need two years off and 50 foot rubs. Like, it would be wild. From point of conception

to three years after the baby. Yeah, they're on paternity leave. They're on paternity leave. Like, there is no way men should put up with morning sickness and go to work and work a 40 hour job and deal with a toddler. Absolutely not. There'd be like free in-home help. Like, the government, it would be, yeah, the government would give men helpers in their houses to deal with that. I wouldn't be shocked. But for any dude listening, we're just playing. We're just being silly. We're just being silly. We're just silly little women with silly little opinions. We're just being funny. We're just being funny. But let's talk about the pill. I'm really keen to talk about the pill. Yeah, I've got some more stats on the pill. So under the topic of the pill,

women are being forced to pay three times as much for newer birth control pills or use older products with potentially worse side effects because the most recent contraceptive options are not subsidized and they aren't on the PBS. The pharmaceutical benefit scheme, which lists all the medicines that are subsidized by the federal government, caps a four-month supply of the oral contraceptive pill at $30 or $7.30 for a healthcare card holder, although some generic brands are cheaper, which is a little bit of a money win. Newer products though, Bec, that are more commonly prescribed can actually cost triple that amount. So three months supply of popular contraceptive pills, so like Zoli and Yaz and others, they can cost $87.99, $74.99 and $83.39

respectively, according to the data held by reproductive non-profit MSI Australia. Women are paying $76.39 for a three-month supply of progesterone-only pill Slinda, while Microlut, an older progesterone-only pill that doctors say can be actually less effective and cause irregular bleeding that's subsidized at $11.99 for four months oh what a treat but like it's so unfair yeah like if you are a lower income earner even if you're not a lower income earner the difference between paying 12 bucks and like close to 80 bucks that's a lot like that's a lot of money like you can't just blink and go oh well that's the cost of having good quality contraception. I'm sorry, why do we have to put a cost on good quality contraception

when we're arguing on the flip side that it's a basic human right? Absolutely not. And then Pharmacy Guild Senior Vice President Natalie Willis says advances in technology over the past 25 years have led to new pills that have offered greater benefits in terms of reduced side effects and smaller doses. But Beck, these guys aren't subsidized. So if you would like to have reduced side effects and less medication going through your body, that's actually going to cost you a lot of money. That is, I'm not going to use the F word here, but I think you know what I'm trying to say. I'm going to say that's pucked. It's messed up. It's messed up. It's messed up. I couldn't think of any other word. Isn't that scary? It's a word that I use as a crutch sometimes,

like when I really want to emphasize a point. Like, I don't know. Honestly, I don't know a word that's more dynamic. You can put the F word in anything. In a good sentence, F word works. Bad sentence, F word works. Normal sentence is real basic. We're just trying to be absolutely casual. F word works. F word works everywhere. I'd say let's go have a little break and I'm personally going to be looking up other words to use and then we'll come back. I've heard that swearing too much is a lack of intelligence. So we need to come across very intelligent human beings on this podcast so we'll we'll do some research and we'll be back on the flip side see you then oh hello and welcome back to she's on the money the very

eloquent podcast where two women who are very culturally diverse talk about smart yeah very important topics with very long words very long words very long words that we don't have to pause and read first and try and pronounce. No, it's like the finance industry, right? Like I am convinced that mediocre middle-aged white men just use complicated words to make us feel bad about ourselves and make themselves seem smart. Because like when it comes down to it, this stuff's not that complicated. But like if they don't make it complicated, what do they even do when they say they're an investment banker? That, now that's a good question. Right? Now that's a very good question. Maybe that's why contraception is such a long word. Oh my gosh. Makes sense. That makes

sense actually story checks out now v we are talking about contraception today and the cost of contraception and it's getting a little bit i would say would you say heated um we're getting what would you say maybe fired up we're passionate we're passionate our passion is showing yes yeah our passion is showing and honestly i like the way it looks i just i get really frustrated when it comes to I guess just this whole topic of equality and equity and I just feel like in 2023 I shouldn't have to argue to have access for our community for basic human rights and basic human needs and we already know that women in Australia who experience an unexpected pregnancy are more likely to be a low-income owner and I am going to you know extrapolate that out and make some

predictions that that's because you can't afford the health care necessary to get the pill right and even when I was at uni I was in the very fortunate position where I was fully employed at uni and I mean I have always lived a relatively privileged life right like I have been very lucky in that I've always been on my parents medicare card I've always had mum and dad as a fallback like I know if I couldn't have afforded a doctor's appointment mum would have just paid for it And like we talked about this a little while ago when we talked about the bank of mum and dad and we talked about this concept of having an emergency fund when you don't really have an emergency fund.

And I've always been one of those kids where, you know, mum and dad aren't wealthy or rich by any stretch of the imagination, but they always have been that safety blanket of knowing, right? And so I never really skipped medical appointments because it always was within reach and it could always be bulk billed. And I mean, in 2023, that has changed and bulk billing is no longer as easily accessible as it once was. But even as a young woman, I just couldn't be bothered half the time going back to the doctor to get another three month script of the pill. Like, and I know that that can be, I have ADHD, so I am inherently lazy. Like I do not want to do that. Right. But

it's also one of those things where it's like, it's not just about access. It's about, so you're saying I need to go to the doctor a minimum of four times a year to collect a prescription medication that I can't tell you when the last time my husband saw a doctor was. No. Couldn't tell you. That's brutal. You know what, if I said, babe, who's your GP? He'd be like, like Grand Prix. What, yeah, what is a GP?

He would not, I don't think he would have a normal GP because like men do not see, they should, but they don't see the doctor nearly as often as women do because we kind of are forced into it. And I just think it's, to me, a wild concept that, yeah, we're still arguing for equality and equity. And I mean, it stretches into, Bec, where are you getting the time for these four appointments? Yeah, definitely, definitely. V, before the break, we were talking about the findings in the Senate inquiry. And I guess like, and forgive me, because I actually have no idea about this stuff, as you know, but where do we stand in terms of long acting and reversible contraception. Yeah. So before we just talked about general and then we talked about the

pill and there's obviously more contraceptive options than that. So I guess to dive straight back into me giving you some stats and facts about these things, let's talk about the long active and reversible contraceptive options. So from reading everything, it's glaringly obvious that Australia is falling behind as global peers on the use of long acting and reversible contraceptives like interuterine devices. So that's like a Mirena or what they're calling a copper coil. Hormonal IUDs or interuterine devices, these are small devices that are basically put into your uterus to prevent pregnancy. They are subsidized on the PBS and they cost about 30 bucks or $7.30 with a healthcare card. However, copper IUDs, which some women prefer, Bec, and I don't think that there's a

lot of conversation around this because they are far more long-acting than something like a Marina, which is a name brand. There's lots of different kinds. But copper IUDs, Bec, they don't actually use hormones. The copper is kind of like a natural contraceptive when placed in the uterus, but these are more expensive and they're typically between $80 and $90. And so that's a very big difference from like $7.30 if you've got a healthcare card and you can't access it, right? So back to our friend, Professor Danielle Mazza, who we mentioned just before. She said that IUDs reduce the levels of unwanted pregnancies, but there was not enough GP training or compensation to encourage their uptake. And she said that GPs are always trying to tell us the rebate is too

low to reflect the cost of a practitioner to deliver that service. So obviously, I'm not a doctor. So I don't know how long it takes. But what I do know is that there are lots of different ways to get an interuterine device into your uterus. And it depends on, I guess, your pain threshold, which, you know, as women, we are expected to have a much higher pain threshold than men. And I remember talking through this option with my doctor because I have had a Mirena before and it worked really well for me. And I went into my GP and my GP explained, oh, I don't do it but you'd have to go to this other GP to do it and like we could do it in the clinic and basically you'd come in Victoria what you do pop a couple of norepinephrine and then you come in

and we do the insertion you might be a little bit crampy but you should be fine and that will just be the cost of a normal GP service but we only have one doctor in the whole clinic who does it and she's booked out for three months because no other doctor was trained in it right right and so I started looking into it and because I had never given birth before, it was recommended. And this is me doing my own research. Like my GP didn't suggest this and I now have a new GP who's a legend. So if you see me at the GP, it's not him that we're talking about. I did a lot of research on forums and realized that maybe that wasn't the best option because it's actually like a birth pain and the bit of cramping that you have because they're opening your cervix and putting something

in your uterus actually could be contractions. Oh my God, that is wild. So I did a bit more research and I ended up going to a fertility clinic to have it put in and I got put to sleep to have it put in. And before you get put to sleep, they like take you into a GP and, you know, you have a chat with them and they explain the process. And I said, oh, I'm here because I did my own reading. And my, you know, my reading on these forums said that I probably should be put to sleep because I've never given birth. And that doctor was horrified. She was like, are you saying that your GP said just pop two Nurofen and like come in and have this interuterine deserted? And I was like, yeah, like that's what they said. And then, cause I thought I was relatively like,

you know, ahead of my time getting this thing. Cause I had it like maybe eight or nine years ago put in, right. I remember then having these conversations with my friends and they're like, oh yeah, that was like the most traumatic experience of my life. I had it put in, in the doctors and, you know, I went into cramps and I had contractions for a couple of hours. And I was like, what? While they were away? While they were away. No. And it turns out this is a relatively common experience, which is why I also advocate talking to a GP and feeling like not only are you heard, but they aren't just like, I guess, dismissive. And what Professor Danielle Mazza is really saying is that GPs, they don't have the training, but also why bother getting the training

if you're not able to charge more? And I'm not saying that they should charge more. There should be a process for this and the PBS should be picking up some of this cost to insert these things, but it's just not a thing. And I just, it blows my mind that when men get anything done, immediately put to sleep, immediately offered a higher dosage of medication. In fact, I was talking to one of my girlfriends who had her wisdom teeth out recently and her husband had had his wisdom teeth out like a year before. And he was like, oh, it's fine. They'll give you medication. You know, you'll come home. You'll look like a bit of a chipmunk. No worries. No worries. Anyway, she went, got her wisdom teeth out and then was like at home complaining about

the medication that she was taking. And he was like, oh, I think, I think she like ran out of medication so he went to find some of his medication that he had been given from the same doctor and he went to get the same medication because he assumed it would be identical and she had been given ibuprofen and he had been given codeine because obviously that's all she needed sure same exact procedure and her husband was given codeine and she was just given ibuprofen which, you know, at the end of the day, if you don't understand those two things, codeine's a lot, a lot, a lot stronger than just ibuprofen, which you can get at Kohl's. Isn't that wild?

That is pretty wild. I would say even slightly insulting to the guy. You can't handle this. No, actually, I just want all women to be given codeine if they think that that pain is going to be too much. If possible. Not like, oh, women won't eat it. Like, they've gone through worse.

Yeah, sure, sure. They go through worse every day. you just need ibuprofen all right let's move on from that let me tell you about the pbs so we mentioned earlier about the need for new forms of pills to be included on the pbs right well australian medical association vice president dr danielle mccullum agreed and said that the pharmaceutical benefits advisory committee which recommends items for the pbs needs to receive applications from pharmaceutical companies before their product could be listed she said quote that the advisory committee can't compel manufacturers to request listing, which has been a bit of a

challenge, but we welcome more contraceptive medications on the PBS. So the inquiry is going to hand down its final report in May, which is quite soon. And I'm probably going to want to update you guys on what the outcome of that is, just because I think it's really important for our community. But isn't it wild that we're talking about basic human rights here, we're having this conversation about you know equal access and it not being financially crippling and it actually just goes back to commercialism like the company has to apply to be on the pbs and the company's like oh well that doesn't really matter like who cares we're still selling the product because in my head and as i said before i have never applied for a product to be listed on

the pbs but what i'm going to assume is that if something goes on the pbs it becomes government subsidized it doesn't change the profit levels of what the company make at the end of the day what it would do though is subsidize it which you would think is an incentive because like if it's cheaper aren't more people buying it yes but they're like but we're yaz we like the best pill everybody is going to pay for it regardless because people like you and i if you've had you know not so great experiences on other ones you're like you know i don't care it costs me you know, 78 bucks. I'm just going to pay it because my health is worth that. And I agree that that's not fair. It's not fair. It's not fair. That actually kind of takes me down another path.

I just want to talk about financial privilege for a second. Yeah. It depends what you can afford, but also what the cost of your method is. V, I think you have some general costs to share with us. I can see it over there. I'm dying to know. I have a little chart. I have a little chart, guys. I have a graph. I love a graph. Would you call it a graph? I would call that a table. Yeah, from a spreadsheet, obviously, guys. I don't know what you expected from me, but it was definitely a spreadsheet. So I have some costs to go through and I think it's just interesting. I'm not going to read every single one of them, but the emergency contraceptive pill. So that's like the morning after pill or plan B if you're American. I learned that recently on TikTok

and I was like, plan B? What was plan A? Like you didn't implement plan A. So we went for plan B directly anyway. Yeah, I'm curious about that. With a Medicare card only, it can be up to 50 bucks. And that is a pill that you can take if you have had unprotected sexual intercourse and you want to prevent a pregnancy. That doesn't do anything for STIs or STDs, not a thing. It's just to prevent pregnancy. Same with oral contraceptive pills. So obviously these things only prevent pregnancy. They're not protecting you, as we said at the top of the episode, they're not protecting you from STIs and STDs, which is actually really important to protect yourself against if you're in a new relationship or if you're in a relationship where, you know, maybe you're both having a little

bit of fun outside that relationship. But the oral contraceptive pill with a healthcare card and a Medicare card is going to cost you around $6.40 if it's listed on the PBS. But with a Medicare card only, it's $10 to $35. But Bec, you're going to need to go to the doctor to get that. And a doctor's appointment can go anywhere from $0 if it's bulk billed, but like basically no one's bulk billing anymore, all the way up to $115 per consultation. And you're going to need to do that every three months because you're going to get a three month script. So that's more than $400 a year in doctor's appointments. If you don't have a healthcare card, because I know that a lot of places are going to still bulk bill for people still with a healthcare card,

but again, accessibility of that is becoming lower. And like, what time do you have to go and visit the doctor? It's wild. And do you know what's even more wild is the fact that weekend appointments, when I'm assuming most people who have a nine to five Monday to Friday job, they're more expensive. My doctor's clinic charges a Saturday appointment fee, and it's much more than just a weekday fee. But also I can't get to the doctor, you know, in their morning sessions because they start at eight. If I have an eight o'clock appointment at the doctor, you just know that that's not going to happen till like at least 8.30, 9. And then I'm going to be late to work. That impacts my job. If I'm being paid hourly,

are we going to take into consideration the hour of pay that I'm not getting for that morning? On the flip side, if I want to do it after hours, most doctors clinics don't do late night appointments every day of the week. Let's then throw in the fact that you might have kids and need caring. There's so much to it that blows my mind. Moving on though, hormonal IUD, so the Mirena, with a healthcare card and a Medicare card is going to cost you around $6.40. With the Medicare only card, it's around $39.50. And to get a doctor's visit, it's going to cost anywhere between zero and $200 to be inserted. But that is not taking into consideration any anesthetist fees. So as someone who had a Mirena put in under anesthetic, and I also had private healthcare,

I was really lucky. But what I had to do was pay the gap. So I was out probably $300 or $400 from memory with that, just to have it inserted. So yes, it was $39.50, but it will depend on your insertion method and before I was slamming the insertion method of having it done in the clinic and I'm not sure how much I would recommend that. I mean, there are going to be and like, please do not get in my DMs and message me and be like, Victoria, I had it put in and I was fine in clinic. Like I get that there are going to be people who have had a brilliant experience and a seamless like insertion of it, right? And you're going to have this perfect experience and you're going to look at my experience and be like, that's wild, Victoria. I don't know why you're promoting

that. But the experience with my girlfriends that I have anecdotally had is that everyone who has put it in, in clinic has had a negative experience. I'm not saying that that's everybody's experience. I'm just talking to my own experience and how traumatic I think that is. And the fact that I got to completely circumvent that by choosing just to go to sleep. I don't know how my body reacted while I was under anesthetic. I don't need to know. Yes. I don't need to know. But what I know is that I got appropriate pain relief and it was put in while I was under, right? And I think that that is something that should be more accessible. And obviously I got to go down the, I guess, claiming it on private healthcare. But if you don't have that, it might

be an out-of-pocket anesthetic cost. It depends on whether you go to, you know, a general hospital and have it put in, or if you go to like a fertility control clinic, which I honestly would recommend going to. They are lovely people and they do this every day. Like at the end of the day, if I'm going to have a Mirena put in, do I want it put in by my GP who just did the training one time and puts it in in the clinic and doesn't really do them, maybe does a couple a year? Or do I want to go to a fertility control clinic where they do that literally every single day and they're probably like brilliant at the process? It's not to say that GP is bad. They're probably really good. And you know what? There are probably a lot of GPs out there floating around

who have become like known for really good insertions of this thing. But from my experience, again, every time I tried to find someone, they would be like, oh, no, they don't do that. It was an even bigger nightmare, Bec, when I wanted to get it taken out. Oh, I haven't even talked about that yet. Exactly. Because like what goes in must come out at some point. Newton's law, as they say.

Yeah, what goes up must come down. But when I wanted to get it taken out, that was a circus and a half and I called a whole heap of GPs. And from my understanding, all you had to do was yank the cord. No. Oh, no. No. No.

We won't go into that story because it is a relatively traumatic story, but it definitely cost me close to $1,000 to have that removed. So I think you need to understand, I guess, that side of cost as well. Sure. Obviously, I feel like I'm being relatively ranty today, but it's because I care, I promise. Yeah, that's okay. Copper IUD, same circumstance, but that's going to be more expensive.

so it's not going to be able to be claimed under PBS with a healthcare card doesn't count but with a Medicare card it could be between $70 and $120 and then it could cost you up to $300 according to my graph to get it inserted it lasts for 10 years though 10 years but again I would probably recommend looking at other insertion methods to make sure that you're okay the contraceptive implant slash rod, right? This is the one that I said sent me absolutely batty. Batty. Did that for me. I have so many girlfriends who have had, I think, three, four, even five rods. They love it. They thrive on it. It is the perfect thing for them and it works really well. With a healthcare card, around $6.40. It's pretty good. Yeah, that's not bad. Around $6.40 with a Medicare card only,

37 bucks. Okay. And this one you don't need to be put to sleep for because they can just like numb your arm and put it in. It could be up to $115 in the consult fee because most GPs have like an area at their consultation clinic that they can put in and that lasts three years. Okay. That's a nice happy medium. That's pretty good. Deprovera is a contraceptive injection, which I think is really interesting. I've never had this before, but it's around $6.40 or 15 bucks with just a Medicare card. You do need a doctor's consultation. So let's call that around $115 and you're going to need two of these apparently, according to this list. And that lasts three months. So just like the pill, you're going to have to return to the doctor for that shot every

three months. Again, access. The vaginal ring. Do you remember hearing about this? I remember hearing about this when I was much younger, the NuvaRing. It sounds familiar. It's like, basically I think it's made of like medical grade silicon and you basically have this ring that's what would you say about the size of my fingers? I would. Turned around. How would you explain that? Would you explain that? Oh like an okay. The circumference of my okay notion right? Anyway that that silicon ring gets inserted once a month into your vagina and stays in your vagina. Okay. And that costs around $30 and then you pull it out after I think it's like 28 days. Once a month? Yeah.

This must have some benefits to it because surely no one's opting for this once a month to do this. Well, you put it in once a month and then the silicon ring stays in your vagina for the entire month. But it's expensive, no? It's not cheap. It's around $30 to have it done and you need to change that every three weeks and you can get it on a prescription. So you could probably get it the same way you get the pill and pick up three of them or whatever. Look, I'm not a doctor and I'm not pretending to be a doctor. I'm just talking about the process. I've said a million times, please go talk to your doctor

about this. Don't just talk to your friends. Like it is so important. But from my understanding, like the ring has the hormones in the silicon and they seep out. And the way that that works is actually that it's closer to your uterus. So you need less of the hormone than you would if you took it orally. So a couple of my girlfriends have used this. I just find the concept of having something hidden up there for a month. Yeah. To me, I'm like, no, thank you. So what, you pop it in yourself? Yep, you pop it in yourself. Yeah.

Yeah, and then you leave it in there. I would just never, ever, ever sleep with anyone ever again instead of doing that. But also that's okay if you do that. See, I reckon there are going to be a heap of girls that slide into our DMs and they're like, I love my new ring, like the best thing that ever happened to me. And like I'm assuming, like just assuming here,

you can't feel it. Yeah, yeah, totally. Like it's smaller than a tampon. If a tampon's inserted properly, like you can't feel that. True. Yeah, I'm sure there's some benefits. So maybe it's just like a thing. Totally.

Actually, I've got a lot of questions. Maybe do slide into our DMs because I'm very curious to know what it feels like, what the whole process is like. This is too far. No, please. What happens if you have sex? Oh, yeah, like a little boop. Is it like playing coits?

You know that game where you throw the rings and then it gets stuck on the pole? Do you know what happens? You know, like, I feel like I'm going to take it too far. Yeah, okay, let's move on, let's move on. let's talk about like more barrier methods because obviously those are oral contraceptive methods that only protect against pregnancy right the last one under contraception that you can get from your gp beck is called a diaphragm and a diaphragm is basically a barrier method of birth control and the plan with that one is it's actually like kind of like it looks like a

condom that hasn't been unrolled and it's a little bit bigger and it basically gets placed over your cervix with spermicide before sex, which is probably less common. But yeah, you place it in before you have sex and then it's left in place for at least six hours after sex to basically stop the sperm getting up your cervix and creating a pregnancy, right? They do recommend fitting by a healthcare provider, which I think is really interesting because it's like basically a barrier protection, but that's expensive. It's between $70 and $90. And then obviously again, that $115 for a consultation. So I find that wild. You know what I find more wild though is when I googled it as well. The one year failure rates around 12% with typical use. Like 12%? I mean, I don't know

what you mean. Like condoms are like 99.95% effective. That's like so much less for such a cost. Like, no, I'm not going to go and get that one. If you use that though, please slide into our dms we want to hear about it and why you choose that over the other contraceptive like options that are out there now that's what i want to know yeah like it's not do you use it like that might work but like surely it can't be oh that was the only method available to me because it's so niche it does feel like quite niche but then i guess moving more into barrier methods internal female condoms are between three and ten dollars each and they're single use they're much more expensive than external male condoms, which are, you know, between $0 because lots of them are free

to $5 for multiple. And obviously you can buy lots and lots of different kinds. They might even be on sale at Kohl's, you know, might be in luck. I might check it out after this. And then oral and dental dams. They're not a method of birth control. They only protect from contracting STIs during oral, vaginal or anal sex. They're around $3 each. So I feel like given their single use, that's actually relatively expensive. Like it adds up, right? I see. Like every single time. And I mean, every pill. I'm married. So like, it's going to be real cheap for me. But like, you know, if you're not married and you have a very active sex life, that's going to add up real quick. It's like getting coffees every day, you know, like that stuff just adds up. True. Well,

coffee back in the day. Yeah. Coffee back in the day. Yeah. Like it's not $3 anymore. $5.50 for an oat latte. I was at the cafe the other day, get this Bec, $1 extra for oat milk. Well, now they're taking the piss a little bit. You're going to charge me more to save the world? What? Well, when you put it like that. Okay. Exactly. I'll do it. I'll pay for it, but I'm not happy about it. I'm just not happy about it. But I think it's interesting going through all of those, right? Totally. And I think it's just interesting just going through all of those and the costs and what they look like and what the actual implementation might be. And I mean, back to what we're talking about before, I don't know how many times I can reiterate this. Please go talk to

your doctor about this because we're not doctors. We're just talking about the costs of these things and these things work very differently for very different people. And to be honest, there might be a few types of contraception that you've heard about today that you're like, I didn't know that existed. Like how many people are going to be listening to this? And they're like a ring that you put in your vagina for a whole month what like that's crazy to some people and that's cool that we're learning together but the best person to learn from is actually going to be your gp gp mic drop baby fertility specialist that can help you through these processes and actually find what the right fit for you is because as we've said before the right fit for me is not

the right fit for you and the right fit for beck is not the right fit for me like 100% different everybody is different totally what makes our community so cool yeah i love that i think that we are ending it on a really good note but a few takeaways from today my one that i'm most scared of right now and i keep hearing this many clinics aren't bulk billing anymore yeah why when how what the hell does that mean there's not a lot i can say on that but essentially i think it's just the rising cost of living and i mean at the end of the day i'm not here i think some people are going to cut me down for this, but doctors have to put food on their tables too. They still have to pay rent of their clinics. They have to pay their nurses. They have to pay their admin staff.

They have mouths to feed and bills to pay. And I think that it's just become a financial pressure where they just don't have an option. Like they need to, you know, increase how much they're being paid. And our government isn't subsidizing our healthcare enough for them to not do that because we all know that I think at the crux of it, if you sat a doctor down and said, why did you become a doctor? It's not because I wanted to get rich. There are way easier ways to get rich than becoming a doctor. They become a doctor because they care about people and want to help. And usually that is the situation. So I genuinely feel like if a doctor is charging, it's probably because they have to, not because they're like, oh, do you know what I really want

to do? I don't want people to be able to access really financially responsible healthcare. Like they're not doing that. We know they're not doing that. I think that the government needs to step in a bit more than they have been before and actually subsidize it a bit more because you know you look at the rising cost of living and it's like up to seven percent what has the government increased how much that they're subsidizing health care by seven percent no they haven't but things are costing more than seven percent i guarantee admin staff in the doctor's surgeries are going oh well i'd like a raise because the rising cost of living exists yes like it makes sense we know you know landlords are charging more now because they're trying to cover their

mortgages, which is an entirely other conversation, but people own clinics and they're probably increasing the rent on the clinic. Like there's just a lot of things to be taken into consideration and I can almost guarantee that clinics aren't not bulk billing anymore because they want to screw us over. Sure. Okay. Does that make sense? That makes sense. It makes me feel a bit better actually. And the last point that I think I'm going to take away from this, and I feel like everyone should, is that the cost that we're talking about today is mainly for metropolitan people. Yeah, that's true. And that we're not really kind of discussing what the cost is for rural and regional people that, you know, might not have the same accessibility as we do. A hundred

percent. I can imagine it being quite difficult. And it's a privilege. Like, as I said before, I got to go down to the fertility clinic and, you know, decide to have my Mirena inserted there. What if you're in a rural town and you only have the GP and that GP is not trained in that type of contraception that you want? Not only do you not have access to that, but you might also be a bit wary of getting that because you're not going to have the support close to you if that's not the right contraceptive method and you need to have it taken out. So I think there's a lot of privilege when talking about contraception and this conversation

shouldn't stop here, which is why we have our Facebook group so we can continue the conversations and continue to, I guess, hear your opinions and, you know, hear what our community is going through. So the conversation will continue over there, but I just think it's, yeah, this has been such a small snippet of the issue that we're going through. And I guess the crux of this episode wasn't necessarily to talk about accessibility, even though we are shedding light on it right now. It's really to talk about the cost of it and what that looks like. And that contraception, I think, is important to talk about. And I'm sure a lot of you thought we're going to talk about who should be paying for it.

We covered that on that Friday Dreams episode. But what is it actually, at the depths of it, what's it going to cost me to get on the pill? What's it going to cost me to buy a condom? Totally. I love it. Let's leave it at that, I reckon. Let's go get a tea.

Let's go get another tea. All right. Well, we love you. Have a good weekend. We will see you guys on Friday. Bye, guys. the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances she's on the money exists purely for educational purposes and

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