"Health Care Reform is a Woman's Issue," Nancy Folbre, New York Times' "Economix": An exchange between Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) at Friday's Senate Finance Committee hearing illustrates why health reform is such an integral issue for women, Folbre -- an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst -- writes in the blog. In a discussion of what benefits private insurers should be required to offer, Kyl said he "'does not think he should be required to pay premiums to help finance maternity costs, since he has never needed maternity care,'" Folbre reports. However, she adds, "As Sen. Stabenow calmly observed, 'I think your mom did.'" Folbre notes that women will be especially affected by health reform because they face unique challenges when dealing with the existing health system. "Women need more health care than men because of the combined demands of pregnancy and family planning," Folbre writes. She adds that a typical U.S. woman who wants two children will spend a total of about five years trying to get pregnant, being pregnant and recovering from pregnancy, and about 30 years trying to avoid unintended pregnancies. "Partly as a result, young women typically must pay more than young men for individual health insurance, unless they live in one of 10 states where 'gender rating' is illegal," according to Folbre. Furthermore, "[m]others often take primary responsibility for meeting children's health care needs," she adds, noting that nearly one-quarter of U.S. children live in households maintained by single women. Because women often obtain insurance through their husband's employer, they are particularly vulnerable to job loss and divorce. Although fewer women than men are uninsured, women "seem to be more affected by insurance-related problems, including inadequate coverage," Folbre states. Fifty-two percent of women -- compared with 39% of men -- reported forgoing some type of medical care because of cost in 2007, according to a Commonwealth Fund study. More than half of bankruptcies attributed to medical costs were filed by female heads-of-household in 2007 -- a "striking testimony to [the] financial vulnerability" of women, Folbre writes. "Women in their 50s and early 60s who are married to older men face a distinctive risk -- loss of access to their husband's employer-related coverage when he makes the transition to Medicare but they are not yet old enough to be eligible," she adds. Folbre continues that women's role as health care providers -- caring for sick, elderly and disabled family members -- helps explain "why women are more likely than men to work part-time and to exit the paid labor force for longer periods of time." More than 59% of "informal, unpaid caregivers" are women, she states. "Amid much discussion of the costs and benefits of health insurance reform -- including claims that investments in preventive health won't save money -- attention has focused largely on potential savings to the federal government," Folbre writes. However, "one reason that preventive health doesn't always offer a big federal budget savings is that it prolongs life -- and therefore increases likelihood that individuals will utilize Medicare and Medicaid resources in old age," she continues. In fact, the "biggest returns on preventive health investments are enjoyed by individuals themselves, and the family members who tend to them," according to Folbre. For example, when children with asthma lack preventive care, such as use of inhalers, it "results not only in terrifying emergencies for many families but often many lost days of paid work -- and job loss -- for mothers," Folbre writes. She concludes, "Parents place a high value on averting such emergencies, and so should everyone" (Folbre, "Economix," New York Times, 9/28).
"Is Fear of Population Control Trumping Green Solutions?" Amanda Marcotte, RH Reality Check: While a recent London School of Economics report indicating that condom distribution is five times more cost effective in reducing carbon emissions "seems like unalloyed good news," someone with "even the barest understanding of the history of arguments involving population control" would know that it's "not so simple," Marcotte writes. It is "easy enough to assume" that advocates are "shying away from the issue because reproductive rights are such an explosive topic, and even touching it brings a hail of crazy from the anti-sex nuts down on your head," Marcotte writes, adding that the "history of the fear of overpopulation being used as an excuse to coerce childbirth choices" is what drives opposition to population control. "[W]hen someone starts talking about condom distribution, as a means to reduce population and environmental damages, liberals understandably remember" the history of eugenics, and "decide they don't want to step on that slippery slope," she continues. The report's "suggestions were framed completely in terms of not just voluntary contraception use, but they explicitly studied women who want contraception and don't have it," Marcotte writes. She adds that the report's authors are "explicitly rejecting condescending arguments that suggest that women in developing countries -- where most lack of access occurs -- can't make these decisions for themselves" (Marcotte, RH Reality Check, 9/29).
"A Fast Track Solution for Reducing Unintended Pregnancies: Increase Federal Support for Lifelong Provider Education," Wayne Shields, RH Reality Check: In the blog entry, Shields posts a copy of his editorial in the current issue of the journal Contraception. The editorial argues that a commitment to "dramatically expand reproductive health education for all clinicians during their academic training and throughout their careers" can provide "a crucial, immediate pathway toward healthy, planned families in the U.S. and around the globe while building on the growing body of published research in the field." A "tightly knit, highly trained, culturally sensitive cadre of health care professionals can make a real difference in the health and safety of the general public and can have a major impact on unintended pregnancy rates," according to Shields. He also writes, "Our challenge is to make the image of the well-trained clinician a reality for all members of the reproductive health care team." The "time is right to transform provider education in reproductive health and family planning," as President Obama has "challenged all Americans to work together to help reduce the need for abortion by, among other complementary goals, reducing unintended pregnancies in the U.S.," he continues. The solution "will likely involve a number of comprehensive new initiatives that build on and enhance some of the excellent work already being done in the reproductive health field, while retaining" a woman's right to choose "when, where and how to have children," Shields says. Reproductive health clinicians "must rapidly expand our efforts to combine the best clinical and behavioral science available and to creatively translate this data into innovative provider education," as well as "continue to support investment in new research and innovative programs that address gaps in reproductive health practice," according to Shields (Shields, RH Reality Check, 9/29).
"Regional Groups Find Allies in New Places," Wendy Norris, RH Reality Check: "After weathering eight years of conservative attacks, the pro-choice community held high hopes that the Obama administration, bolstered by Democratic majorities in Congress, would signal an end to partisan bickering over federal funding for comprehensive care and the tedious national obsession with abortion," Norris writes. However, with "that optimism scattering to the four winds of manufactured political controversy," reproductive health care advocates are now "going local," she says. She continues that the National Institute for Reproductive Health has launched the Urban Initiative for Reproductive Health, "four regional urban summits to bring providers, policymakers, activists, funders and legislators together to share effective program strategies and localized incidence data." According to Norris, at the kick-off event last week in Denver, "emphasis on seeking common ground was a dominant theme in sessions on sexuality education, underserved populations and the intersection of reproductive freedom and economic self-sufficiency." Norris reports on programs highlighted at the Denver meeting that attempt to find "agreement" on such issues (Norris, RH Reality Check, 9/26).
"Religious Leaders Demand Abortion Rights" Feminists for Choice: A recent open letter to Congress by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice "makes an attempt to paint reproductive justice as a concern of the majority of religious people, not the other way around," the blog states. The letter, which was signed by more than 70 leaders of different faith organizations and churches, said, "The majority of faith groups have affirmed that abortion is a decision of conscience that should be safeguarded by government. Further, these faith traditions affirm that health care services, including abortion, must be available to all, regardless of income." The blog says, "It angers me to think that believing in reproductive rights is seen as something that religious leaders and people of faith have to justify," adding, "Given that the foundation of reproductive freedom is respect for the dignity and lives of women, it is a crime that one would assume religious individuals are antiabortion unless otherwise noted." The blog continues, "I hope that the push to make progressive clergy members more visible will serve to educate the general public about to the truths about the pro-choice community" and "encourage more young feminists to join spiritual communities and come to know the joy of being part of a progressive spiritual community" (Feminists for Choice, 9/28).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.
? 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.Blogs Comment On Health Reform, Population Control, Provider Education, Other TopicsOriginally from: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/165662.php
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