Lauren Boebert Says Having Kids Is 'Cheaper' Than Paying for Birth Control

It is "cheaper" to give birth than to pay for birth control, Representative Lauren Boebert said Tuesday during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing.

Multiple pharmaceutical experts composed a panel to discuss the role of pharmacy benefit managers in prescription drug markets, and whether they are involved more for the financial bottom line or for actual health care.

"I left a prescription at a pharmacy once," Boebert said. "I went to get birth control and I was there at the counter and went to pay for it, and the price was very, very high.

"I said, 'Wow, is this a three- [to] six-month prescription?' 'No, ma'am, this is one month.' And I said, 'It's cheaper to have a kid.' And I left it there, and now I have my third son, Kaydon Boebert. So, actually it turned out to be a real great thing."

Boebert, 36, a Colorado Republican, has four sons with her husband, Jayson—whom she recently served with divorce papers. She announced in March that one of her sons, 17, was going to make her a grandmother in April. Her eldest child was born when she was 18.

Boebert, who has praised "rural conservative communities" that "value life" in wake of her finding out she would be a grandmother, then joked that her staff would likely chastise her following the hearing for making the comment.

"The congresswoman's statement is not factual and misleading," Kristen Batstone, a policy expert for the National Women's Health Network (NWHN), told Newsweek. "The average cost of the birth control pill can range from 0 to $50 depending on a person's insurance status. LARCs [Long-Acting Reversible Contraception], such as the implant or IUD [intrauterine device] can be more expensive, but nothing that compares to the cost of giving birth in the United States."

The average cost of childbirth is about $18,865 and includes pregnancy, delivery and postpartum care, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, a nonprofit focused on health issues, according to data collected in 2022.

Other factors taken into account include whether health insurance absorbs the crux of such costs, as well as the type of birth and the location in which it takes place.

Batstone pointed out how KFF's birth figures are affiliated with large insurance plans while estimating that women who give birth via cesarean section spend an average of $26,280.

"Even with insurance, out-of-pockets costs average around $3,000," Batstone said. "These costs do not include extra bills, insurance premiums or ambulance costs....Further, research suggests postpartum women are more likely to experience medical debt than other women.

"The United States is one of the most expensive countries in the world to have a child, and these estimates do not even include the financial burden that is incurred from child-rearing."

The Affordable Care Act requires that most private plans cover contraceptive services for females without cost-sharing, which includes patient education, counseling and FDA-approved methods of contraception with a prescription, KFF spokesperson Mikhaila Richards told Newsweek.

"This provision has dramatically reduced cost-sharing for contraception among females with employer or individual insurance market plans," she said.

KFF data shows that among those using contraception in the past 12 months, seven in 10 females (70 percent) with private insurance reported that their insurance covered the full cost of their contraceptive method. About 25 percent said their insurance paid at least part of the out-of-pocket cost.

"There are a number of reasons that someone might have to pay part of the cost for contraceptives even though they have private coverage," KFF said. "For example, someone could be using a brand-name contraceptive that is not in the plan's formulary, or they are unaware of or not offered a generic alternative. Some people paying out-of-pocket could also be receiving care out-of-network or still be enrolled in a grandfathered health insurance plan, which is exempt from the requirement."

About half of that group paying more was unsure why they had to pay out of pocket, while 16 percent paid because they wanted a certain brand of contraception not offered as part of their individual plans.

Richards had no comment regarding Boebert's remarks. Newsweek reached out to Boebert's office via email for comment.