im sorry but i dont agree on the whole should women pay for an epidural.
i had one in my second labour as i had been in labour so long and i was so tired that had i not had one so i could get some rest i would of ended up having a c-section which is worse in the long run with recovery time etc etc.

i tried gas and air for hours and only felt i really needed one when hours after being hooked up to a drip to get my contractions going a bit better as they were tailing off, and the pain got gradually worse after they kept putting the dosage of the drip up.