I am saying this as a Canadian with only a small amount of knowledge of the American health care system, especially since it has changed. I know that this is an old thread, but perhaps someone else in a similar situation might look through and want to investigate. This is not a permanent solution - I think that birth control should be covered for everyone regardless of whether or not they have insurance, because if you're in no position to afford insurance, you're in no position to be having a baby. In addition to that, it would make it easier for teenagers to get a hold of it, which I look at as a positive and not as the negative that some people do. If they're going to be having sex anyways (which, coming from a county who has held the title for highest teen drinking rate and a comparable pregnancy rate more than once in the last twenty years, they are), why not give them something that they can do ahead of time to make sure that they don't wind up with a bouncing bundle of bills and stress - I mean, joy.

Anyways, round to my actual point: if we do not have insurance and go to the doctor, we have to pay full price for whatever method of hormonal birth control we choose. Instead, I have started going to a sexual health clinic, which offers birth control at a discounted rate. It is still significantly more expensive than what I would be paying if I had insurance (which is something like $2 for every three months), but at $10 a pack and no pharmacy fees, it's much more affordable than paying full price plus dispensing fees, especially because you can go back and pick up a single pack every month without having to pay extra for the pharmacists to pick the pack up off a back shelf and bring it to you. I know about Planned Parenthood, but I figure that someone would have posted about it by now if they offered something like this. Does anyone know if there are other sexual health clinics (or even just independent Gynos) who offer this sort of thing? Just as additional information, I had to undergo a thorough history (both sexual and general) and was offered a free pap (which I grudgingly accepted because in reality, I should have had one a year before I did). The whole thing took about three hours (and I scored like, two dozen flavored condoms because my nurse was disappointed to hear that I don't use them when engaging in oral. We still have yet to use a single one. ).

Like I said - I don't know if that exists in the States, but it might be worth looking around for a doctor or clinic somewhere that has a similar program.