University students will have the opportunity to get free family planning services for nearly three more years.
Many students who had Family Planning Expansion Project appointments during the last several months may have been told that the services would no longer be available after the new year, but FPEP was saved when the University Health Center received a portion of Lane County Public Health’s grant to run the program until 2006.
FPEP, a Medicaid project that provides many free family planning services to men and women who qualify, has been available at the health center since July 2000.
For women, FPEP provides such services as annual exams, various methods of birth control, pregnancy tests and emergency contraception, while men can receive condoms and spermicide.
Sexually transmitted infection screening is also available to men and women, but it must be combined with some form of birth control. FPEP will only provide services if the intention is to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
The health center’s Web site states that in order to qualify for FPEP, students must be eligible to use the health center, be an Oregon resident and have a social security number. Women must be under the age of 56, but there is no age restriction for men.
Also, single students with no children can’t earn more than $1,365 per month to take part in the service. That doesn’t include parent’s income if the student is a dependent.
University Health Center Business Manager Daralyn Dehaven-Murdoch said FPEP’s main goals are to reduce unintended pregnancies, reduce the pregnancy rate among youths 10 to 17 years old and increase the number of men receiving services from publicly funded family planning clinics.
She added that she encourages students to apply for the services.
“It has been an extremely positive program for the students,” she said. “Students are getting the information that they need, whether they’re sexually active or not.”
However, Dehaven-Murdoch said students are limited in the quantity of services they can receive. Women are limited to one annual exam per 12 months and a maximum of 13 months worth of birth control at a time.
Also, men and women are limited to 100 condoms per day, and FPEP will not cover non-symptomatic STI screening and treatment, or medications and supplies relating to treating infections.
Since July 2000, 9,580 women have been FPEP-eligible and 25,350 visits have been billed to FPEP, Dehaven-Murdoch said.
There have been 1,610 men who participated in the program so far.
FPEP does request that a student’s insurance be billed first if the students has it. However, if a student wants to maintain confidentiality from the insurance or parents, FPEP will cover the services and the information will stay at the health center, Dehaven-Murdoch said.
University junior Michael White felt that only students without insurance should get FPEP services.
“If they are covered on their parent’s insurance, I don’t think it’s a good idea that they are able use the program,” she said.
Senior McKenzie Gibson disagreed, saying the services should stay accessible.
“I think it’s a good way for students to be able to take care of their health,” she said. “I’m really glad the grant was renewed.”
She added that many students can’t afford birth control on their own and FPEP helps them to receive it and educate themselves.
In the future, FPEP will provide vasectomies and female sterilization, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services Child and Family Health division’s Web site.