As a twenty-four year old student and daughter of a University of North Dakota (UND) employee, my contraception has never been covered under my mother’s health insurance. For the past two years, I have spent $40 a month on contraception. Some quick math tells me that I have paid a total of $960 on contraception. Is our health insurance company so eager to line its own pockets that it is willing to take money from those of us who have the least to give? In order to afford my $500 rent and other expenses, I have to work 20 hours per week at a part-time job making $11 per hour. How does the university’s health insurance company expect someone like me to afford necessary contraception under such a restrictive plan when I am earning such a modest income? It is clear through their utilization of such restrictive health insurance that the North Dakota public university system does not value a woman’s right to make healthcare decisions on her own terms. What an unfair burden to place on the employees (and their families) who serve the university so faithfully.

Yours sincerely,

Brittany Borgen

Proud UND Student of Social Work