The Cost Of Contraception

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and basic human right is and are. And I am 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 war 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 if we got milk in the fridge and you go, yeah, it'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, Beck 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, Beck, 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 one eight hundred respect in our notes and please, please please get support from someone you trust. 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, ad brunch with your girlfriends were You're like, oh, my gosh, what have you got? And you're like, I've got the Marina. 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 implant on 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, yeah, like why did you go to some other GP and get this? And I was like, oh, because I look 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 gonna work for you because this other contraception didn't work for you.

And I was like, well, could have just kept my health care 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, Beck, 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. It not just your mates. When I was single, Beck, 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 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, Beck, Thank you v smart woman. Oh my goodness.

they're like, oh, obviously tracking your ovulation is great. I'm like, oh, no, I know when not ogulate 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 twelve to fourteen days after your period ince and they're like what. I'm like, yeah, sometimes it's the leftovery, sometimes it's the right. Like 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. It's like a little flex that I don't know what it does for me when you can literally just track it. But yeah, time, So anyway, we'll have another conversation about that.

I remember her being like fully nine months pregnant when we're doing our Year twelve 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, like's wild. But I've also had a number of other girlfriends experienced unplanned pregnancies, and whilst it can be really stressful, it doesn't mean that contraception is always one hundred percent, right, mm mmmmm.

of circumstances that I don't understand. But at the end of the day, guaranteed, every single unplanned pregnancy came from those true 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. Yes, 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? They protect him? So true? Why is it not his responsibility? But it's my job to keep 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 as kosher as somebody who doesn't have as much sex. But when a guy does it or get it, guys like, sorry, you could have got our entire country pregnant At this point, 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's going to work out for me either because miscarriage is so high. But

then also it's only with one person. The damage a dude could do in nine months, I know, I know that's so true that my responsibility.

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 no exactly yet 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 fact sheet on that thing? Like, if you've read it, you're basically gonna 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 gonna have blood clot issues. You're probably gonna

have headaches. That's just a give you're gonna die reading this reading this paper because it's gonna 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 of 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 I expected to take on. Right, Like, if you are a female having sex with men, and I know that a question you would be asked before you know, having coitious is are you on the pill?

It's fair question. But 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'm 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 Healthcare in Australia BECK 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 dock points, because not everybody is I guess, as nerdy as me and has 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 Masa 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 productive health. 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 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.

about the pill. I'm really key to talk about the pill. Yeah, I've got some more stats on the pills. 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 there

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 of thirty dollars or seven dollars and thirty cents for a healthcare card holder. Although some generic brands are cheaper,

which is a little bit of a money win. Newer products, though beg that are more commonly prescribed, can actually cost triple that amount, So three month supply of popular contraceptive pills, so like zolion, yeahs and others, they can cost eighty seven dollars ninety nine, seventy four dollars ninety nine, and

eighty three dollars thirty nine, respectively. According to the data held by Reproductive nonprofit MSI, Australia, women are paying seventy six dollars and thirty nine cents for a three month supply of progesterone only pill slender while MICROLT, an older progesterone only pill that doctors say can be actually less effective and cause irregular bleeding, that's subsidized at eleven dollars

ninety nine for four months. Oh, it isn't very wild, but like it's so unfair, Like if you are a lower income earner, even if you're not a lower income earner, the difference between paying twelve bucks in like close to eighty 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 twenty five 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, do you have reduced side effects and less medication going through your body, that's actually going to cost you a lot of money.

trying to absolutely casual. F word works, effod 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. Yeah, I heard that this swearing too much is a lack of intelligence, So we need to come across as very intelligent human beings on podcasts, So we'll do some research and we'll be back on

the flip side. See then, 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.

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.

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 written in reach and it could always be bog billed. And I mean in twenty twenty three, that has changed and bog 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. If I said time a year, I said, bab, who's your GP, he'd be like black grand prix what, Yeah, he was a GP? He would not.

I don't think he would have a normal GP because like, men do not see they 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, Yeah, equity, and I mean it stretches into beck, where are you getting the time for these four appointments?

acting and reversible contraceptives like into uterine devices. So that's like a Marina or a what they calling a copper coil hormonal ireuds or into unterine devices. These are small devices that are basically put into your uterus to prevent ignancy. They are subsidized on the PBS and they cost about

thirty bucks or seven dollars thirty with a healthcare card. However, copper IUDs, which some women prefer, BECK 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 Beck, 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 eighty and ninety dollars, and so that's a very big difference from like seven dollars thirty if you've got a healthcare card and you can't access it.

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 into unine 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, right. And I remember talking through this option with my doctor because I have had a marina before and it worked really well for me, and I went into my GP, 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 neurofit 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. 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 isn't that real hard? That's 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, like are you saying that? Your GP said just pop two in Europan and like come in and have this interview to around deserted and I was like, yeah, like that's what they said. And then because I thought I was relatively like you know, ahead of my time getting this thing. So 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 they know, 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 a guest dismissive. And what Professor Daniel Maza 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.

M and her husband had had his wisdom teeth out take 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 worriest 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

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 ibuprofene, which you can get a culs. Isn't that wild?

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 doctor 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 products

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 gonna 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 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, ah, well that doesn't really matter, like food cares, We're still selling the product. Because in my head, and as I said before, I have never applied through

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 levels of what the company make it the end of the day. What it would do, though, is subsidize it, which you would think is an incentive to more people buying it. Yes, so they're like, weird, yeahs, 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 what, I don't care. It costs me, you know, seventy eight bars. I'm just going to pay it because my health is worth that. And I agree that that's not fair.

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 Pella with a Medicare card only it can be up to fifty 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 SDIS 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 SDIS 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 contractive pill with a healthcare card and a Medicare card is going to cost you around six dollars forty if it's listed on the PBS, but with a Medicare card only, it's ten to thirty five dollars. But beck you're going to need to go to the doctor to get that, and a doctor's appointment can go anywhere from zero dollars if it's bog billed, but like basically no one's bog billing anymore, all the way up to one hundred and fifteen dollars 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 four hundred dollars 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 steal 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? Yes,

its like it's so wild, it's wild. And do you know what's even more wild is the fact that weekend appointments when I'm a 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 week day 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 eight thirty nine, and then I'm going to be late to work. That implects 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. Like, let's then throw in the fact that you might have kids a need caring. It just there's so much to it that blows my mind. Moving on though, hormonal iud so the Marina with a healthcare card and a Medicare card is going to cost you around six dollars forty. With the Medicare only card, it's around thirty nine dollars fifty and to get doctor's visit. It's going to cost anywhere between zero and two hundred dollars to be inserted, but that is not taking into

consideration any anethetist fees. So as someone who had a marina 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 three or four hundred dollars from memory with that just to have it each aspished. So yes, it was thirty nine dollars fifty, 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, they are going to be and like, please do not get in my DMS and message me and be like Victory, I had to 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, Yeah, 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 product,

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 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 marina put in. Do I want it put in by my GP who just did the training one time and puts it in the clinic and doesn't really do them maybe does a couple of 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's 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 back 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 mm hmm Newton's laurel as they said, 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 Ah 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 one thousand dollars to have that removed, so I think you need to understand I guess that side of cost as well. Obviously, I'm 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 seventy and one hundred and twenty dollars, and then it could cost you up to three hundred dollars according to my graph to get it inserted lasts for ten years though ten year ten days. 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 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 six dollars forty it's pretty good. Yeah, that's around six I sporting with a Medicare card only thirty seven 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 one hundred and fifteen dollars in the consult fee because most gps have lack an area at their consultation clinic that they can put in. And that lasts three years. That's pretty heavy. That's a nice, happy meeting. That's pretty good. Debra Vira is a contraceptive injection, which I think is really interesting. I've never had this before, but it's around six dollars forty or fifteen bucks with

just a Medicare card. You do need a doctor's consultation, so let's call that around one hundred and fifteen dollars. 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. I think, do you remember hearing about this? I remember hearing about this when I was much younger thanuverring.

It sounds familiar. It's like, basically, I think, 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? Ah? I went around, How would you explain to explain that, Oh, it's a conference of my okay, notion?

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 you're just 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 poppet in yourself? Yeap? You poppet in yourself? Yeah? Yeah, and then you leave it in there.

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 sperm side 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 spam getting up your cervix and creating a pregnancy.

don't know what you mean. Like condoms are like ninety nine point ninety five percent effective. Rah, that's like so much less for such a cost. Like understand, 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 throughout there. Now, that's what I want to know. Yeah, Like it's not do you

use it? That might work, Like, surely it can't be. Oh, that was the only method available to me because it's so niche. It does feel a quite niche. But then I guess moving more into barrier methods. Internal female condoms are between three and ten dollars each and their single use. They're much more expensive than external male condoms, which are you know, between zero dollars because lots of them are free to five dollars for multiple and obviously you can

buy lots and lots of different kinds. They might even be on sale at coals you don't know, might be in love. I might check it out. And then oral and dental dams they're not a method of birth control. They only protect from contracting sdis during oral, vaginal or anal sex. They're around three dollars each, so I feel like, given their single use, that's actually relatively expensive. Oh, Like it adds up, right, I see, like every single time, and I mean every pill. I'm married, so like, huh,

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 true adds up? True? Well, coffee back in the day, Yeah, coffee back is a day. Yeah, Like it's not three dollars anymore. Five dollars fifty for an oat laste the other day, get this back one dollar extra for oatmelk. Well, now they're taking the piss a little bit, you know,

charge me more to save the world. What Well, when you put it like that, Okay, exactly exactly, 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, fat, 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 GPP baby fertility specialists 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 different, everybody is different now totally

what makes our community so cool? Yeah, I love that.

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 know increase how much they're being paid, and our government isn't subsidizing our health care 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 feel like, oh, do you know what I really want to do. I don't want people to be able to access really financially responsible health care like they're not doing that. We know they're

not doing that. I think that the government needs to stay been a bit more than they have been before and actually subsidized 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 healthcare 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 filling anymore because they want to screw us over sure. Okay, that does that make sense? That makes sense. It makes me feel bit better actually.

method and you need to have it taken out. So I think there's, yeah, 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 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 lash 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 were going to talk about who should

be paying for it. We covered that on that Friday Drinks 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 cornum?