There’s been a lot in the news lately about the so-called “supercommittee” in Congress, which has been tasked with trimming more than a trillion dollars from the federal deficit. It’s the supercommittee’s job to figure out which programs will get the budget axe.
America’s women and families want and need confidence that when they buy health insurance, it will cover comprehensive benefits that meet their needs. Thanks to health reform, we may soon get that.
A milestone for women’s health is finally within reach: On Tuesday, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) identified the full range of FDA-approved contraception and birth control options as preventive health services – and recommended that they be made available to women without additional fees or co-payment under health care reform.
Infant mortality rates are widely used in this country and internationally as a barometer of the quality of a community’s, or a nation’s, health care system – and with good reason.
The “”war on women”” in the House of Representatives rages on.
Today is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, when we should all pause to remember that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is still shaping and taking too many lives, in the United States and around the globe.
Sometimes I think there’s not much that can surprise me. But last week proved that theory wrong: the U.S. House of Representatives voted to prohibit federal funds for health care services provided by Planned Parenthood, and eliminate funding for all Title X family planning services, which are the sole source of health care for millions of low-income and uninsured women in this nation.
Ten years ago today, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ruled that refusing to cover prescription contraception in an employee health plan – if other similar preventive services and prescription drugs were covered in that plan -violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the amendment to Title VII, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. It was a monumental victory for women, many of whom spend the majority of their reproductive lives (approximately three decades) trying to avoid an unintended pregnancy. Women rely on contraception to plan their families, and appropriately and safely space their children.
It’s a fact: Contraceptive use improves overall health. It enables women to plan and space their pregnancies. It has contributed to dramatic declines in maternal and infant mortality. And it has been a driving force in reducing unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion.
On average, women spend at least 30 years being sexually active but trying to avoid pregnancy. That’s an awfully long time considering no contraceptive is 100% effective and things don’t always work out as planned.
The kudos about the 50th anniversary of the FDA’s approval of the birth control pill are well deserved. Timely access to contraceptive services has vastly improved maternal and child health, and has been the driving force in reducing rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion in this country. Women’s ability to control our fertility has helped us achieve personal, educational and professional goals and made us a critical component of the nation’s success.
Today, the Senate took a historic step to fix our nation’s broken health care system by passing comprehensive reform that will cover 31 million more people, prohibit insurance practices that undermine meaningful, affordable coverage, help contain costs, and put us on track to improve the quality and coordination of care.
The health reform bill the House passed this weekend had some long-overdue advances — and an eleventh hour amendment so appalling it taints the entire bill.
It is always a terrible shame when politics gets in the way of the imperative to meet the health care needs of women.
