The recent spike in attacks on women’s basic reproductive health care, from birth control to cervical cancer immunizations to abortion care, by out-of-touch and extreme politicians is breathtaking in scope and intent. Take, for example, the issue of birth control as women’s preventive health care. At a recent hearing before a congressional subcommittee [Continue Reading...]
Last month, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued new guidelines requiring all new health plans under the Affordable Care Act to cover the full range of FDA-approved contraceptive methods without charging co-pays or other out-of-pocket fees. In addition, the recommendation also includes covering, as preventive health care services, annual [Continue Reading...]
Last month, the U.S. House launched the most devastating legislative attack on women’s health care in American history. Under the guise of “deficit reduction,” the House voted to eliminate the national family planning program (known as Title X), and to deny Planned Parenthood the federal funds it receives to provide affordable cancer screenings, [Continue Reading...]
Many Americans were shocked in 2008 when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that at least one in four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease (STD). According to the Guttmacher Institute, the direct medical cost in the U.S. for the treatment of STDs is approximately $14.7 billion annually. [Continue Reading...]
The House vote to establish near-universal health care coverage came at a steep cost to women. That cost, which came in the form of an amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Michigan), eliminates abortion coverage by private insurance companies even when women are paying for all or most of the premium with their own money. [Continue Reading...]
How reproductive health care is dealt with in national health care reform is no small matter. And who provides this critical care is still to be determined. [Continue Reading...]
