Health Care Reform Will Provide Much Needed Services
TALKING POINTS: WOMEN’S HEALTH
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What health care reform would mean for women:
Overlooked in the current debate over health care insurance reform is the fact that the legislation is a historic moment for women, who are the nation’s chief consumers of health care, making 80% of all family health care decisions, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Under the new provisions, more women will have health insurance coverage than ever before. Here are some examples why:
· Gender discrimination in health insurance will end in the 40 states where it is still permitted. Currently women age 25 are charged between six and 45% more than men for the same coverage. At age 40, women’s monthly payments are between four and 48%.
· Maternity care will be covered. Too many new mothers and families are burdened by high medical bills when an individual policy caps pregnancy coverage at $2-3,000 but the cost of a complicated and often times life-threatening delivery may cost $35-50,000, or more.
· No woman can be denied health coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition, such as breast cancer.
· Domestic violence cannot be treated as a preexisting condition, the way most private insurance plans do now.
Women from every age of life---from teens to grandmothers--- will benefit from passage of health care reform.
· Women ages 65 and older are at risk of financially devastating out-of-pocket costs. They spend more on premiums than any other age group and shoulder more out of pocket expenses for health care services than older men.
· By providing premium assistance and creating caps on out-of-pocket expenses, health insurance reform will make health care affordable for older women.
· Women age 55 to 65 are too young for Medicare but are often at risk of losing their health insurance – especially if it is dependent health insurance through a spouse and there is a divorce, the spouse dies or the spouse is older and becomes eligible for Medicare.
· Under health insurance reform, individual insurance plans would be offered at reasonable rates and without exceptions for pre-existing conditions such as breast cancer.
· Women over 40 need regular mammograms, and those over 50 often need bone density tests. Under health reform, co-pays would not be required for these important health screenings.
· Women on Medicare are falling through the “donut hole” of existing prescription drug coverage and usually cannot afford the cost of essential medications. Health reform would start to close that gap and make prescription drugs more affordable.
· Younger women will have more options for coverage under health care reform, whether they are in school, in their first job, starting a family, or postponing pregnancy. Specifically, the proposed legislation:
o Allows younger women and men to be included under their parents’ insurance policy until age 26, regardless of their marital or education status; and
· Reform legislation covers treatment by health care providers in community health centers and women’s health clinics.
Women of childbearing age will have more choices with guaranteed health insurance coverage than they do today, including:
* Coverage of prescription birth control and contraceptive devices;
* Prenatal, maternity and childbirth care as basic coverage; and
* No designation of pregnancy as a pre-existing condition (which can now be excluded from private plans).
Single moms, women employed part-time and full-time homemakers are especially vulnerable under today’s health care systems.
· One in four of all single moms do not have health insurance, compared to 18% of all women not eligible for Medicare.
· Very few part-time workers have a benefit package that includes health insurance and nearly all full-time homemakers are “dependents” on policies held by their spouse.
· Proposals in the health insurance bills would provide affordable options so that women could have health insurance in their own names at the same price that a similarly situation man would pay. Pre-existing conditions would be covered and consumers would be able to compare private plans though a health insurance exchange program facilitated by state or federal programs.
A cornerstone of health care insurance reform is support for preventive care to reverse troubling trends. basic care. Currently, uninsured women are far less likely to receive recommended preventative care.
· Over half of women age 50 have not received the recommended mammogram, a critical screen for breast cancer that allows providers to catch cancer in its early and treatable stages when conducted on a regular basis.
· Over a third of uninsured women have not received the
recommended pap smear, a critical screen allowing for early detection of cervical cancer.
· 40% of uninsured women do not have access to a regular doctor.
Preventive care for women leads to cost savings for the overall health care system when there are incentives to focus on services such as screening for the risks of heart disease and diabetes. Earlier this year, the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health at George Washington University, released a report: Women’s Health and Health Care Reform, the Economic Burden of Disease in Women, which points to some of the costs involved when there are no preventive incentives. For instance,
· The direct costs of cardiovascular disease, which affects 43 million U.S. women, are estimated at $162 billion a year.
· The direct medical costs of diabetes in women are estimated at over $58 billion.
Health care reform provides for a “well-woman standard.” A recent study released by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health makes a case for this standard of care so that women can attain good health in childhood and adolescence, maintain good health during their reproductive years, and age well.
