You may have noticed that I (and hopefully by now you’ve noticed lots of people!) changed my Twitter avatar today to the following:
I’ve gotten a couple questions asking, “Why?” So I wanted to throw up a quick post answering that question. Fortunately my friend Tanya already did:
I wanted to tell you about something I’m working on with some of my girlfriends – we’re mobilizing on twitter and elsewhere – and some are coming to DC – to make sure parity in cost is included in all the healthcare reform work.
Tomorrow Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is chairing a hearing begins at 10:30am in Dirksen SD-430. Women have been called to testify about their experiences with insurance companies and discrimination. But you know who else is showing up? Karen Ignani, spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans. So if you’re in the area and can come – please express your freedom of assembly and come to the hearing.
My day job beckons, but if you can spare your twitter profile pic, please feel free to use the one in this post – with thanks to the National Women’s Law Center and Rad Campaign.
If you’re unfamiliar with the problem gender inequality in our healthcare system, see my last post for more info.
In the meantime, like Tanya said — my day job beckons, but if you have a sec please feel free to change your Twitter profile pic as well! It may be small, but mobilizing online can be powerful — so I hope you’ll participate!
Apparently, health insurance companies decided that.
There’s definitely a lot of noise in the healthcare debate, but this is an issue that deserves our attention and shouldn’t be ignored. Women’s health issues are distinctly different from men, and one startling issue that has come to light as a result of the current ongoing debate on healthcare reform is that women are getting the shaft from health insurance companies in more ways than one.
Having had a pregnancy is considered a “pre-existing condition” for which insurers can deny women coverage.
Only 14 states require insurers to cover maternity care.
Bring a young unmarried woman is perhaps even more dangerous. According to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:
under our current system a 25 year-old woman pays up to 45 percent more for the same or identical coverage [than her male counterpart.] And yet, some of the most essential services required by women are not covered by many insurance plans…[services] such as childbearing, pap smears and mammograms.
When did this become okay with us? And why? Why are we okay with making it harder for women to get access to affordable quality healthcare?
Insurance companies have decided that factors that are totally out womens’ control — like being beaten up by a spouse or getting pregnant or even the simple fact that they MAY get pregnant in the distant future — are reasons that women are too risky for them to insure. Women are charged up to 48% more than men in the individual market.
What gives me hope, though, is that this issue is getting a lot of attention. Last week it was in my face constantly — and I consider that a good thing. Activists and elected officials alike are both taking action:
Last week, Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Reform asked a question on LinkedIn: “What is the biggest healthcare problem in your state?” — she’s already received over 840 answers and is planning to include some of the most insightful ones in a soon to be released White House webcast on healthcare. At first glance, there’s already been several answers raising the issue of women’s access to health insurance.
Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic Women’s Working Group also hosted a press conference last week calling attention to the difficulties women have in obtaining problem access to health care.
Eight women Senators have been speaking out on the issue of gender disparity in our health care system. The video, if you haven’t seen it yet, is worth watching — it made me proud of the women we have elected to the Senate, who reminded listeners across the country that being a woman should never be considered a pre-existing medical condition.
I just hope their message gets through the heads of the right people.
One of the best aspects of traveling is the interesting people you meet everywhere you go. In Thailand earlier this month, we met two Americans who had come to Bangkok to get dental work done. And who wouldn’t want to, when the surgeries they were getting were thousands of dollars cheaper in Thailand than America — even after the costs of travel?
It’s an interesting trend, medical tourism – one that so far has been one of those things you see in 60 Minutes clips. But its popularity is growing tremendously, especially with the recession leaving Americans strapped for cash and desperately seeking affordable healthcare. But that reflects pretty poorly on the American healthcare system and says a lot about just how desperately we are in need of serious healthcare reform.
Since 1994, the cost of healthcare in America has more than doubled. Almost twenty percent of the population between 18-65 was uninsured last year – a staggering number. And according to Michael Leavitt, former Secretary of Health and Human Services, the average American household’s spending on healthcare expenses will go from 23 to 41 percent of average household incomeover the next two decades.
Healthcare is about to get far more expensive, at a time when more people are losing jobs and fewer people can afford basic health insurance. So it’s no wonder that everyone’s border-hopping for cheapers drugs and surgeries. But really, the situation could be prevented if America would just give its healthcare system the overhaul it needs – universal healthcare.
One bit of good news though: Obama’s proposed new stimulus package right now — you know, the $825b one — contains a substantial amount of money reserved for healthcare reform:
$39 billion in subsidies to health insurance for the unemployed; providing coverage through Medicaid
$90 billion to shore up state Medicaid programs
$20 billion for health-information technology systems
$4 billion for preventative care
However, it’s only a start. The rising popularity of medical tourism is a perfect case for why America needs universal healthcare more than ever, despite the naysayers against it. As America heads into what is expected to be a deep recession, the staggering costs of American healthcare is going to be a huge obstacle for many, and overhauling our healthcare system should be one of the Obama’s administration’s top priorities.
