At last Wednesday’s Illinois Student Senate meeting, Robert Palinkas, director of McKinley Health Center, announced that the student health facility will begin charging a co-payment of $5 on most student prescriptions. While any student expense increase across campus is a concern, this change is justified and practical if the level of care students receive on campus is to be maintained.

Last spring we reported that McKinley faced an operating shortfall of up to $2 million for the semester, mostly due to increased medication prices. Before the Federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 took effect at the beginning of the year, colleges benefited from a federal provision that encouraged pharmaceutical companies to offer lower prescription drug prices to their health facilities.

Unfortunately, with price controls no longer in place, students are seeing a small glimpse of how the national health care system functions. With costs on the rise, everyone is paying more for basic medical care.

While over-the-counter items like band-aids and cold packs will remain cost-free, the hard numbers on prescriptions make it increasingly difficult to argue that the free ride many students enjoyed on many drugs can continue without consequences.

At the heart of the matter, $5 for most prescription drugs is still an amazing deal. But the type of medication that will be affected the most by the cost increase is the kind that students use the most: birth control.

For females on campus that means that Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo will now cost $22 a month. The drastic jump has led to fears that students, especially those with low-incomes, will forego contraceptives. However, these fears should be mostly assuaged because another birth control method, Tri-Sprintec, will be available for the $5 fee.

But this does not mean that students should not start to think about the kinds of choices they make. While $22 for a brand name of birth control is more than what was being charged before, it is still a much better price than most people could find.

But more broadly, this co-payment system is a better way to fund McKinley than an increase in the general fee. Those that regularly use birth control will now bear more of the costs associated with it, leaving those who don’t without the burden of payment.

It is likely that medical costs will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. This University needs to start working with students now to make sure that we will have quality health care to go along with a quality education for years to come.