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.
My two sisters and I are a team. For several years, as we each juggled our own work and family responsibilities, we willingly took on the role of “advocate” and “coordinator” of health care across settings (home, hospital, nursing home) for my father, who died last year at the age of 94. It wasn’t easy. At times it sapped our energy and our spirits. But we took on the role out of love and a deep respect for our father.
No one would deny that health care in the United States is riddled with disparities – in access, in treatment, and in outcomes. There are disparities due to gender, race/ethnicity, place of residence, socio-economic status, age and insurance status. Until recently, few attempts have been made to examine how those disparities affect costs. A spate of recent research, however, builds a powerful case for paying much more attention to the connection.
“Can’t you just use the bathroom?”
That’s right. Health reform may officially be law, but now the hard work of fixing our health care system begins.
That’s right. Health reform may officially be law, but now the hard work of fixing our health care system begins.
There’s been so much misinformation about the new health reform law, it’s hard NOT to be confused. But the National Partnership’s health policy team wants you to have answers to questions you submitted when President Obama signed the new law.
At night after the kids are in bed, most working couples have “kitchen table” talks. Who’s going to meet with a teacher, or stay home with a sick child? Who can take mom to the doctor on Friday? Which bills can we pay this week?
It’s done. Health reform is now the law of the land. Your hard work has paid off, and you should feel proud.
Your hard work is paying off. Last night, the House of Representatives said ‘yes’ to improving health care in our country.
Between President Obama issuing a new proposal on health insurance reform on Monday and the White House Health Care Summit Thursday, the beat marches on around this debate in Washington.
So, what’s wrong with the workplace wellness programs included in the Senate’s health care reform bill? That’s a fair question, and one you may have asked yourself if you saw some of the recent coverage of the issue.
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.
Let’s be clear. As both caregivers and patients, women bear the brunt of shortcomings in our health care system – high costs, poor quality, and fragmented, uncoordinated 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.
October is health literacy month and, as Congress debates the widespread challenges in health care, we also need to address the problem of low health literacy — an obstacle people face in doctors’ offices across the country everyday and one that has a big impact on health outcomes.
This just in. What health care experts have suspected for some time has been demonstrated by a new study published in the American Journal of Managed Care: patients who can rely on a coordinated system where their providers talk to each other, their medical information is available electronically, and they have improved access to doctors and nurses – have better health outcomes.
Everyone I know has at least one personal story about the overwhelming stress and frustration in trying to arrange, coordinate or provide the best possible care for an aging parent, spouse, grandparent, other older relative or friend, not to mention the spiraling costs of health care.
President Obama delivered a powerful and passionate speech on health insurance reform.
You’re pregnant, your first language is Vietnamese, and you’d like to find an obstetrician who speaks your language. You had your first baby by emergency C-section, in another state, but you want to try to deliver the second vaginally, and you’d like to find a doctor who seems to use C-sections sparingly. Or you want very much to breastfeed your baby, and you’d like to deliver at a hospital with lactation consultants available.
