Under HHS mandate, maybe $1000 a year for contraceptives is about right

Just as Obamacare was predicated on the lie that our healthcare system was "broken," the HHS mandate is predicated on the lie that Americans don't have easy access to contraceptives. Everyone, including myself, has noted that "reproductive justice advocate" and brand-new liberal media darling Sandra Fluke's estimate of the cost of contraceptives is wildly inflated. But perhaps she's on to something after all, because under the HHS mandate, we're not talking about $1 condoms or $9/month generic birth control pills.

As is usual with Obamacare, a closer look reveals that it's significantly worse than you thought. Peter Schweizer reports that the HHS mandate will be a bonanza for Big Pharma:

Forget for a minute the religious question and look at who wins big here: Big Pharma. This mandate is not really about condoms or generic versions of “the pill,” which are available free or cheap in lots of places. This is about brand-name birth control drugs and other devices that some consumers swear off because they are too expensive. The Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate requires health-insurance companies provide contraceptive coverage for all “FDA approved contraceptive methods.” It does not insist on generics. And it does not offer any cost containment.

What’s more, the mandate prevents health-insurance companies from having copays or deductibles for the benefit. This is the perfect set up for Big Pharma. Since the drugs will be paid for by a third party (insurance companies, who will pass the cost on to employers and the rest of us), the consumer won’t worry about the price. Expensive brand names will no doubt see demand rise. Ask more health-care analysts why the cost of medical services continues to rise so rapidly and near the top of the list is the fact that a third-party payment system won’t contain costs.

Back in 2009, many observers were surprised when Big Pharma came out in favor of President Obama’s health-care reform bill. The industry spent millions running television ads in favor of the law and industry lobbyists pushed hard for it.  One important reason they did so was the promise that with the new law they would have a new market of millions of new customers. The contraceptive mandate is a perfect example.

So yes, under the mandate, contraceptives, though they will be "free," will almost certainly become more costly than ever.

But no one's talking about that. Obama and his minions must be positively ecstatic over their success in spinning the HHS anti-conscience mandate into a "war on women." Rush Limbaugh has obliged, proving that the right "hates women" by calling Ms. Fluke a you-know-what, and igniting an orgy of feigned lefty moral indignation, culminating in what might be the silliest phone call ever made by a sitting president. When I first saw reference to it on Twitter I thought it was an absurd joke. But no form of posturing or pandering is beneath this president.

Lost in the shuffle is Obama's outrageous assault on religious liberty. It looks to me like the lies are working pretty well for the left, as is so often the case.

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