She might have just been uninformed. Also, I believe that Loestrin is more likely to reduce bleeding (or stop it completely) than many pills even if you take the blanks, so perhaps she'd heard something to that effect and associated it with your problems. Can your pharmacist tell you what pills will be cheap on your insurance? I've had good luck with just calling my doctors and saying "I want X pill, please send a prescription over" since doctors often don't seem to know particular reasons to prescribe one over another. While doctors are pressured to prescribe certain brands (which might have been happening), they really won't know what a copay will cost you as it varies plan by plan and I doubt she knew what a kick in the wallet it would be (Loestrin costs the same as every other pill I've tried on my insurance).