We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Birth control is basic health care for women.
Consumer Advocates Connect on Inaugural Webinar
We had a fabulous inaugural conversation for state-based consumer advocates working on health IT implementation this week!
Calling All State Advocates
Welcome. We are pleased to introduce this new blog — the first step in the process of creating an online community for state-level consumer advocates.
After 39 Years, Let’s End the War on Women
It’s been 39 years since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade – but the battles over access to the full range of reproductive health care services still rage on.
Birth Control Under Attack
Anti-choice extremists are trying to undermine women’s right to birth control under the Affordable Care Act.
Tell Congress That Preserving Medicaid is Critically Important to Women and Families
The deadline for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (The Super-Committee) to reach an agreement is fast approaching.
Super Committee and Health Care: How Potential Cuts to Medicaid Could Harm Low-Income Women and Girls
“Shared sacrifices.” “Tough decisions.” “Everything is on the table.” This is the rhetoric being used to describe the Super Committee’s daunting task of reducing the national deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next ten years.
Dear Supercommittee: There’s Nothing “Super” about Cutting Medicaid
As a nation, our conversations often revolve around “family values.” Yet when it comes to showing that we truly value families, politicians sometimes fall short.
A Blog Rally to Protect Medicaid
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.
Keep Medicaid Safe to Keep Women Healthy!
With a little over a week for the Congressional super committee to complete its work, we must raise our voices to ensure Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are protected in the final deficit reduction package.
Why Now is the Time to Support, Not Undermine, Medicaid
The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH), as the only national organization advocating for reproductive justice and health for millions of Latinas, their families and their communities, strongly urges the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or “Supercommittee” to reexamine their logic when considering cuts or reforms to Medicaid in order to achieve deficit reduction.
How Washington’s Budget Priorities Injure Immigrant Women
Many women in the United States take a huge step forward under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Welcome Progress, But the Final Verdict on ACOs Is Yet to Come
Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may have done what once seemed impossible. Its final rule on Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) seems to have put an end to the rancor and bitter debate on this particular issue, shaping a framework that just about all parties can accept.
Realizing the Full Potential of Health Reform
When it passed, we recognized the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as the greatest advance for women’s health in a generation.
On the Right Track: Institute of Medicine’s Essential Benefits Report
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.
In the Works: New Patient Rights
Patients and families may soon have a great opportunity to have more control over – and make improvements in – the health care they receive.
The Good, the Bad and the Hope for Breastfeeding Rights
Roughly four million women give birth in the United States every year – and most choose to breastfeed (74 percent). After all, the nutritional value of breast milk is well documented. Numerous studies show that breastfeeding protects mothers and children from a range of acute and chronic health conditions. But with two-thirds of today’s working women returning to work within three months of giving birth, the lack of supportive workplace policies and laws is forcing too many nursing mothers to quit breastfeeding early – or never start.
In Science v. Politics, Science Scores a Win
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.
Cause for Hope in North Carolina
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.
Time to Support Older Americans and their Caregivers, Not Undermine Them
Respect your elders. Many of us have been given that advice by our parents, grandparents, teachers and mentors for as long as we can remember. So why don’t our public policies better address the needs of our country’s seniors and their families, and why do some lawmakers seem poised to dismantle the policies that older Americans rely on?
