Dude, where’s my contraception

When Loyola professor Sara Butler went to fill her birth control prescription in January, she was surprised that she had to pay full price for her medication due to confusion from the university’s new health care providers.

At the beginning of October 2014, the Loyola administration announced that employees would now be covered under United Health Care.

Loyola informed employees that they would no longer cover contraceptives due to its religious exemption from that portion of the Affordable Care Act. However, they assured employees that they would still be able to obtain coverage from the new provider.

“I find the whole thing kind of appalling.  I know it has been labeled under religious exclusion as birth control, but this is a medicine that is used for many different things,” Butler said. “I have a condition called polycystic ovaries, and I get very sick without this medicine. It makes me really angry that the university doesn’t care enough about my health to cover this for me.”

Butler said she paid the $75 needed for one month of her perscription despite the university’s claims that United Health Care would still be able to cover the costs.

Now, many faculty members have complained that the university failed to adaquately communicate how to gain this coverage.

Butler, a distinguished professor of history, said the initial statement from the university said there would be no inconvenience to those seeking contraceptives under the terms of Loyola’s religious exclusion, but this has not been the case.

“The new plan requires us to get a whole separate card, and that process alone takes a few weeks, so I expect that I will be required to foot the bill for another month,” Butler said.

Ross Matthews, director of human resources, said that the insurance company is responsible for administering this information.

“Separate coverage for these services is available from United Health Care and communication regarding the coverage will come directly from them,” Matthews said.

According to Butler, Matthews will meet with the Women’s Resource Center to discuss the issue.

Not all believe the change to be negative.  The Rev. Ed Vacek, S.J., Stephen Duffy Chair in Catholic studies and sexual ethics professor, said that the university’s new plan is a good compromise.

“This allows the university to distance itself from this controversy, while not telling the faculty that they do not care,” Vacek said.

Butler said she disagrees.

“I think it’s ridiculous that they did the religious exclusion.  I understand that it is a possibility now, but I think that a university that cares about its female faculty and staff would not take this stance,” Butler said.

Vacek said the decision to stop providing contraceptive care is not an attack on women.

“This university is extremely sensitive to women’s issues. I can’t imagine that anyone here would say that women’s issues don’t matter.  That is not the ethos of Loyola University,” Vacek said.

On Feb. 2, Matthews sent out an email to the staff recognizing that there had been a mistake in past informational publications.

The email stated that the new healthcare provider, United Health Care, told Loyola that employees could use the same insurance card for all medical services, so Loyola published this information.  However, United Health Care failed to set up its system this way and would now issue separate cards to employees seeking contraceptive coverage, the email said.

Matthews’ email stated that United Health Care had apologized for the inconvenience.