Women & Health Care Coverage (in the United States)
The Michael Moore movie 'SiCKO' might for some be spearheading the issue of universal health care coverage in the United States, but it is an issue that has been an been building momentum for decades. After all, When Hilary Clinton was the 'first lady' she introduced a plan for universal health care coverage. The labor movement in the United States, while weakened over the years, has a history of advocating for health care access.
Between watching SiCKO (which being raised working class and with union & socialist family members) and fighting my health insurance I came to really understand how this is a feminist issue. We should all be sharing our concerns and stumbles through the current system.
While men are more likely than women in the u.s. to be uninsured (20% to 13%, women are more likely to be on medicaid (3% to 7%) which makes up some of that gap, as well as they are more likely to be dependent (29% to 13%) on a plan - which of course puts them at risk of losing their health insurance if they leave their partner, their partner dies, or if their partner loses insurance. (http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/7336.cfm (these stats gathered by Kaiser)
Now not having insurance will of course cost you financially (although sometimes places like Planned Parenthood if you can get to their location can provide you an annual pap-smear for a sliding cost) having insurance won't save you always. There are co-pays and deductibles that if you are healthy may not hurt you financially - but if you are facing real health care needs can bankrupt you.
Illness and medical bills caused half of the 1,458,000 personal bankruptcies in 2001, according to a study published by the journal Health Affairs.
The study estimates that medical bankruptcies affect about 2 million Americans annually -- counting debtors and their dependents, including about 700,000 children.
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According to Price Waterhouse Coopers, in the last three years, the amount of bankruptcies filed has increased 122 percent. This year alone, more than one and a half million Americans will declare bankruptcy. Women are the ones who are feeling the economic crunch even more than men. Price Waterhouse Coopers estimates that women will make up 58 percent of those filing and nearly 103,000 will be under the age of thirty. And the trend is anticipated to continue. By 2010, one in six single mothers is expected to file for bankruptcy.
**
Even the problematic Holsinger (who's history of homophobia makes him an unfit surgeon general) agrees:
I think that we need to have every American covered for health care. As I said, I don't know from a political/policy point-of-view what is the best method, but I believe that that is a position I could advocate strongly for across America -- that every American needs full, unfettered, nonjudgmental access to health care regardless of their personal circumstances. Period.
Cisgendered women do have specific health needs, ones specific enough that some states have needed to ensure the rights of in the face of insurance policies trying to dodge payment of such necessary medical treatments as pap-smears, hormonal birth control, hospital coverage, and more:
http://www.ins.state.ny.us/hrights.htm#women
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may162007/contraception_bill_051607.php
If you can stomach thie HHS site for women's health (look pink flowers!!)
http://www.4woman.gov/
there is a wealth of statistics about women and the state of their health in the U.S.
NOW's faq-sheet about women, and poverty, and health
http://www.nowfoundation.org/issues/health/whp/whp_fact18.html
It is only those who have insurance, have doctors, ways to get to the doctors and jobs that honor earned sick days that can provide you the preventative health care needed to keep the healthy healthy and help the sick sooner to potentially save them from death.
Women are perceived as the caretakers of the family, and of society. We should of course be striving to break these molds; to hold men accountable for their share of care-taking. But we should also be honestly assessing our own needs - that of our homes, our children & lovers and make sure these needs are met. Universal Healthcare could address many issues beyond the immediate issue of health. Financial issues, both of bankruptcy and women's independence (not relying on a partner for coverage) and giving those who are currently kept from accessing health care through partners because of homophobia and bigotry the full coverage that we all deserve.
I have lived in the US with and without insurance, both with horrible results. I'd love to hear from those living in countries with universal coverage, I'd love to hear from those lucky to have had good experiences in the states, and those who have not.
So do you consider universal health care a feminist issue?
Between watching SiCKO (which being raised working class and with union & socialist family members) and fighting my health insurance I came to really understand how this is a feminist issue. We should all be sharing our concerns and stumbles through the current system.
While men are more likely than women in the u.s. to be uninsured (20% to 13%, women are more likely to be on medicaid (3% to 7%) which makes up some of that gap, as well as they are more likely to be dependent (29% to 13%) on a plan - which of course puts them at risk of losing their health insurance if they leave their partner, their partner dies, or if their partner loses insurance. (http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/7336.cfm (these stats gathered by Kaiser)
Now not having insurance will of course cost you financially (although sometimes places like Planned Parenthood if you can get to their location can provide you an annual pap-smear for a sliding cost) having insurance won't save you always. There are co-pays and deductibles that if you are healthy may not hurt you financially - but if you are facing real health care needs can bankrupt you.
Illness and medical bills caused half of the 1,458,000 personal bankruptcies in 2001, according to a study published by the journal Health Affairs.
The study estimates that medical bankruptcies affect about 2 million Americans annually -- counting debtors and their dependents, including about 700,000 children.
**
According to Price Waterhouse Coopers, in the last three years, the amount of bankruptcies filed has increased 122 percent. This year alone, more than one and a half million Americans will declare bankruptcy. Women are the ones who are feeling the economic crunch even more than men. Price Waterhouse Coopers estimates that women will make up 58 percent of those filing and nearly 103,000 will be under the age of thirty. And the trend is anticipated to continue. By 2010, one in six single mothers is expected to file for bankruptcy.
**
Even the problematic Holsinger (who's history of homophobia makes him an unfit surgeon general) agrees:
I think that we need to have every American covered for health care. As I said, I don't know from a political/policy point-of-view what is the best method, but I believe that that is a position I could advocate strongly for across America -- that every American needs full, unfettered, nonjudgmental access to health care regardless of their personal circumstances. Period.
Cisgendered women do have specific health needs, ones specific enough that some states have needed to ensure the rights of in the face of insurance policies trying to dodge payment of such necessary medical treatments as pap-smears, hormonal birth control, hospital coverage, and more:
http://www.ins.state.ny.us/hrights.htm#women
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may162007/contraception_bill_051607.php
If you can stomach thie HHS site for women's health (look pink flowers!!)
http://www.4woman.gov/
there is a wealth of statistics about women and the state of their health in the U.S.
NOW's faq-sheet about women, and poverty, and health
http://www.nowfoundation.org/issues/health/whp/whp_fact18.html
It is only those who have insurance, have doctors, ways to get to the doctors and jobs that honor earned sick days that can provide you the preventative health care needed to keep the healthy healthy and help the sick sooner to potentially save them from death.
Women are perceived as the caretakers of the family, and of society. We should of course be striving to break these molds; to hold men accountable for their share of care-taking. But we should also be honestly assessing our own needs - that of our homes, our children & lovers and make sure these needs are met. Universal Healthcare could address many issues beyond the immediate issue of health. Financial issues, both of bankruptcy and women's independence (not relying on a partner for coverage) and giving those who are currently kept from accessing health care through partners because of homophobia and bigotry the full coverage that we all deserve.
I have lived in the US with and without insurance, both with horrible results. I'd love to hear from those living in countries with universal coverage, I'd love to hear from those lucky to have had good experiences in the states, and those who have not.
So do you consider universal health care a feminist issue?