Pill Club Review: All About the Telehealth Birth Control Service

Many people have no choice but to use hormonal birth control. Not only does it help control your period and keep you from getting pregnant, but it can also help with cramps, hormonal acne, and ovarian cysts.

Most people think that birth control pills are a good way to prevent pregnancy because they work 99 percent of the time (if they are used correctly). But there are a tons of brands out there.

Also, it can be just as hard to find an affordable doctor who can help you find the best birth control. It’s not easy to find the right person for you, and that’s where Pill Club comes in.

Pill Club is a telehealth platform started by women that can write prescriptions for birth control. Depending on the customer’s insurance or payment plan, the service can also deliver prescriptions every month or every three months.

With the help of medical, pharmacy, and patient care teams, Pill Club wants to make it easier to get a prescription and find the best hormonal birth control.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Strong group of doctors and nurses. The service has a medical team, a pharmacy team, and a patient care team with licenced doctors, nurse practitioners, and customer service reps.
• You’ll get it right away. To get your prescription, you don’t have to go to the pharmacy.
• No need to make an appointment. Nurses, doctors, and people who help coordinate care for patients are always available by phone or text.
• Free delivery. Your packages will arrive in discreet packaging, and you won’t have to pay extra for shipping.
• HIPAA-friendly. Pill Club follows HIPAA rules to protect your personal information, just like other telehealth services.
• Prescriptions that are already filled can be kept. If you already have a prescription for birth control pills, you can still use them with Pill Club.
• They send out samples for free. With every Pill Club shipment, they send free samples of sweet treats and products for self-care, as well as fun stickers.

Cons

• Pills mostly. Except for Annovera, which is a hormonal ring that lasts for a year, all other forms of birth control are pills.
• Your insurance may put limits on what you can send. Pill Club suggests that you sign up for shipments every three months, but your insurance plan may limit how often you can get shipments.
• Emergency birth control is available, but it won’t be sent right away. Even though the service offers emergency contraceptives and female condoms, they won’t be sent overnight. Instead, they will come with your next order of birth control.
• Credit card users have to pay a fee every year. If you don’t sign up for insurance, each birth control pack can cost up to $10.66 and online consultations and prescriptions can cost up to $15 per year.
• There may not be enough prescriptions. You can’t get a birth control prescription from Pill Club if you live in Alaska.

What is Pill Club?

Pill Club is a service for getting birth control over the phone. The only way to use the platform is online. Its goal is to give people who want to use birth control help, options, and information.

By signing up for the platform, people can get a prescription for birth control, find the birth control that works best for their body, and get regular shipments sent straight to them.

Pill Club is available in all 50 states, and people as young as 14 can join. There are more than 120 different brands and generic versions of birth control pills.

Pill Club tries to make its payment options work for as many people as possible. Both insurance and credit cards can be used to pay for the service. For an extra fee, people with insurance can get period products, and anyone can choose to get generic Plan B or female condoms with their shipment.

How does it work?

To sign up, you’ll first need to fill out some basic information. Then, you’ll fill out a medical history questionnaire that asks about any birth control you’ve used before, any long-term conditions you have, and any medications you take.

The medical team at Pill Club, which is made up of doctors and nurse practitioners, will choose a birth control method based on the answers to the survey. You can say no if you already like a certain brand or if you already have a prescription.

From there, you can choose whether to pay out-of-pocket with your insurance plan or a credit card.

After you fill out the health questionnaire, it will be sent to the medical review team for approval. They will get back to you if they have any more questions or news to share while they wait for the go-ahead, which takes 5 to 7 days.

Is Pill Club available in all 50 states?

Most of the time, yes, but when it comes to prescriptions, there is one exception (more on that below).

Pill Club does more than just prescribe and deliver hormonal birth control. It also offers personalised reproductive care by letting subscribers call or text members of the medical and pharmacy teams.

With this feature, customers can talk about common side effects or ask to change their birth control after the recommended 2 to 3 week adjustment period.

All 50 states offer shipping, but Pill Club can only prescribe birth control in 49 states. Alaska is the only state where they can’t.

If you live in Alaska and already have a prescription for a hormone pill or a birth control ring, Pill Club can deliver it to you once you sign up. In Alaska, patients can also get emergency birth control and female condoms.

What does Pill Club offer?

Birth control

Pill Club has more than 120 birth control pills that have been approved by the FDA (FDA). Annovera, a hormonal birth control ring that lasts for a year, is another option.

There are pills that contain both oestrogen and progestin and pills that only contain progestin. Both name brands and generic versions are available.

Emergency contraception

As an add-on to birth control deliveries, Pill Club also sells emergency contraception, which is the same thing as generic Plan B. No matter if you have insurance or not, you can get emergency contraception. It won’t be sent out right away, though. Instead, it will come with your next package of birth control.

With their birth control, customers also get a free care package that has samples of period products, snacks, and other things.

Female condoms

Female condoms (FC2) are also available. Pill Club has to check with insurance networks to see if FC2 is covered, which is not the case with emergency contraception. They can be sent with your birth control if you ask for them to be.

How is Pill Club different from its competitors?

There are many other telehealth birth control platforms on the web, such as Nurx, Lemonaid, and SimpleHealth.

In our list of the best online birth control pill services, Pill Club was the best for fun extras because each shipment came with a small gift.

Here are some other things you could do.

Nurx

Nurx is one of the most popular services for getting birth control. In addition to the pill, they also offer the ring, the patch, and the shot. Nurx also makes it clear that trans and non-binary people who use birth control are recognised.

At the moment, the platform is only available in 30 states, but shipments are made within 3–5 business days.
Nurx also has emergency contraception like Plan B and Ella, which can be bought with or without a prescription, as well as HIV PrEP (a daily pill that helps fight HIV), HPV screenings, and testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Lemonaid

Another all-around telehealth service is Lemonaid. It doesn’t just deal with birth control prescriptions; instead, it connects people with affordable doctors.

The service helps people with many different problems, such as anxiety, depression, and asthma.

When you sign up for Lemonaid, the medical review team will get back to you within 24 hours. If you’re accepted, the consultation will cost you a flat $25. Lemonaid also has a mail-in prescription service, but it does not take insurance and only accepts cash.

SimpleHealth

SimpleHealth is an online pharmacy that specialises in birth control prescriptions and sends monthly deliveries to people. Like Pill Club, the service works with most insurance networks. If you don’t have insurance, it costs about $15 a month. There is also a $20 fee every year.

SimpleHealth has pills, the patch, and the ring for hormones. There are more than 120 types of birth control, both generic and brand-name.

If you can get female condoms, they will be sent to you automatically with your birth control, but you can choose not to get them if you want to. You can also get emergency contraception (ella) and treatment for genital herpes.

Is Pill Club right for you?

Pill Club could be a good choice for people who have trouble finding a doctor in their insurance network or don’t have insurance.

Also, Pill Club could be a good choice if you already have a birth control method you like and just want to get your prescription filled regularly.

Most people who use the internet often will find the platform easy to use. If you often forget to pick up your prescription at the pharmacy or don’t have time, having your birth control sent straight to you is a plus.

Even though people as young as 14 can use Pill Club, it might not be the best choice for people who are trying birth control for the first time. Most forms of birth control are pills, so you can’t choose to use an intrauterine device (IUD), an implant, or a contraceptive injection.

On the other hand, Pill Club might not be the best choice if you don’t like taking pills. The only hormonal ring that the service has is Annovera. The ring lasts for a year, but it is only in the vagina for 3 weeks and is taken out for 1 week every month.

Does Pill Club accept insurance?

Pill Club works with most of the big insurance companies, like HSAs, FSAs, and some Medicaid plans in some states. Birth control prescriptions are usually covered, but the copay will depend on the network.

If a patient has a closed health plan, they will need to see a doctor in their network to get a prescription, which they will then have to fill at a pharmacy.

You can also use a credit card to pay for it. The platform works closely with drug companies to offer low prices and can tell you how much the recommended birth control will cost. If they don’t, people who use credit cards will have to pay up to $10.66 per birth control pack and $15 per year for online consultations and prescriptions.

Customer reviews

Since it started in 2016, Pill Club has gotten mostly positive ratings from its customers.

Patients love the service because it always delivers on time, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pill Club has a strong 4.6-star rating on Google right now. Reviewers say that the medical staff is generally friendly and helpful, and that being able to text or call them at any time was a huge plus.

People who are too busy to see their doctor love how easy it is to get their birth control. People who take birth control pills tend to love this service because it is easy and quick.

The bottom line

People who have trouble finding a gynaecologist in their insurance network or who just want an easy way to get birth control could use Pill Club.

It works best for people who like taking pills. Since the service can also give a prescription, it usually makes it easier to find a good choice.

If you want an easy way to get your birth control pills regularly, you might want to look into Pill Club.

You don’t have to make an appointment or go to the doctor. Once you find the birth control that works for you, it will be sent directly to you every one to three months.