Health Care Reform does not Sufficiently Protect Women's Reproductive Rights

I said that I would focus on health care reform and women; now that health care reform has reached the Senate for reconciliation, I have some feminist objections.

But first, good things in health care reform that help women's reproductive rights:
--contraceptives are covered under a package with required basic benefits that include maternity care and preventative care, such as mammograms
--more women have access to family planning
--limits on gender and age rating

OBJECTIONS:
--no public option
--the Nelson Compromise severely restricts women's right to choose: federal money will only go to abortions in the case of rape, incest, or fatal danger to the mother's health. Those who want an abortion option in their health care plan have to pay two different payments. Also, states can choose to not have abortion covered if they pass a law restricting their Insurance Exchange from including plans that offer abortion coverage.

What Women's Rights Organizations are Saying:
"[W]omen were forced to pay a price. Abortion was the only medical procedure singled out with punitive restrictions. We must repeal the Hyde Amendment"--Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation

"The legislation includes an onerous provision that requires Americans to write two separate checks if the insurance plan they choose includes abortion coverage. This unacceptable bureaucratic stigmatization could cause insurance carriers to drop abortion coverage, even though more than 85 percent of private plans currently cover this care for women."--Nancy Keenan, NARAL Pro-choice America

Articles and Blogs about Health Care Reform and Women:
Feminist Wire
Ms. Magazine Blog
Bitch Magazine
Frances Kissling

Women's Rights Organizations and Activists Statements:
Nancey Keenan on the Executive Order
Nancey Keenan on Health Reform
Planned Parenthood
Eleanor Smeal

Image Courtesy of the National Women's Law Center's Being a Woman is not a Pre-existing Condition Campaign

Health Care Reform's Clouded Debate

Bipartisan squabbling versus bipartisan cooperation is currently the biggest issue in the health care reform debate. Will the Republicans and Democrats be able to work together and accomplish this legislation at the bipartisan summit? Is this even a good idea or is the concept of this summit distracting the public from the very issue at hand, health care?

This summit could get health care reform back on track, according to Dough Schoen's Fox News' opinion article. Others, like The Daily Beast's Reihan Salam, see this supposed bipartisan effort as an ineffective method Obama is using in order to try to show voters that he is earnestly attempting to work with the GOP.

However, in my opinion, this focus on the bipartisan summit has distracted from the issue of health care itself. There are still large points of contention in the House and Senate versions of the bill that need to be resolved. In the article, "Representation and Agenda Setting," Bryan D. Jones and Frank R. Baumgartner conclude that the public's priorities do influence the "lawmaking activities in the national government" (20). So, issues like the Stupak/Pitts Amendment or the Nelson Compromise and excise tax need to be brought to public attention if there is any hope of practical, effective health care reform.

For more about the excise tax read:
Excise Tax Loses Support Amide White House Push
Can Dems Bridge Their Health Care "Cadillac" Tax Divide?

For more about the upcoming bipartisan summit:
Obama, Republicans spar over starting point for health care summit
White House Invites Congressional Leaders to Summit

Other Health Care Reform Sources:
The Struggle Over Health Care
Health Care Reform
CNN: Health Care in America
The Zombie Hypothesis

Health Care for All Genders

Hello! My name is Nona Gronert; I am from Albuquerque, NM and will be the Tuesday blogger. I am currently a first-year at Occidental College. I am a liberal and a feminist; I support the public health care option without the Stupak/Pitts Amendment (in the House version of the bill; "Affordable Health Care for American Act" H.R. 3962) or the Nelson Compromise (in the Senate version of the bill; "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" H.R. 3590) (Health Insurance Reform & Women).

How Health Care can Discriminate Against Women:



While the above ad cannot be considered "objective," it does give a good summary of how women are mistreated by the health care industry through gender rating and classifying acts like rape and domestic violence as preexisting conditions. At A Woman is not a Pre-Existing Condition other videos easily summarize other discriminatory practices in private health insurance coverage.

Overall, the current health care reform proposals do treat the genders equally in health care coverage. However, as mentioned by Alexis, abortion coverage is the exception; it is severely limited in both of the bills.

For a very comprehensive overview of the current status of women's health care and the House and Senate health care reforms' affects on women go to: Health Insurance Reform and Women.

The bipartisan Health Care Summit is scheduled for February 25 (The Foundry).

Sources:
Health Insurance Reform and Women
Kaiser Family Side-by-Side Comparison of House and Senate bills (available at above source)
Reform Matters
A Woman is not a Pre-Existing Condition

Students struggle with health care too

My name is Alex Bogrand and I will be posting on Sundays. I am pretty moderate politically, having many differing liberal and conservative views depending on the topic, and as such will apply as little bias as possible in my posts. Today I want to write on students and health care. It seems there is an oft-overlooked section of the American populace that need their own healthcare reform. Up to 5 million college students (20 percent of college students) go without healthcare in America (most of them minorities and from middle income families) yet this fact does not receive the necessary attention it should warrant. This issue goes overlooked because of widespread notions that students are healthy, vibrant and well off, being young and involved in higher education. Furthermore, many college students are simply grouped by their age, in the “young adult” classification. Many are pushing for them to have their own classification, such as Jim Mitchell, the director of the student health services at Montana State University: “They are assuming college students and young adults are the same and they think the solutions they are coming up with for people under 30 will also work for college students,” Mitchell said in an interview, “They are a unique population and they need to be looked at as an individual group.” It is clear their situation is different; they or their families can often not afford health insurance because of school costs, they are more likely to injure themselves through sports or risky activities, and the healthcare they must then settle for through their school is often inadequate. Despite beliefs that the young are always healthy, “The reality is, accidents and illnesses do happen, even to young people,” said Denny Ebersole, an insurance broker in New Orleans and board member of the National Association of Health Underwriters (from the attached article). The mess of options presented to students is just as intimidating and confusing as those presented to any other person and they should be collectively recognized and given as much attention as everyone else in any sort of Healthcare reform. Being a student and having to deal with my own health care options I can say from personal experience that it is a muddled and frustrating process that needs attention and reform.

Here is an article describing the situation of student healthcare which also provides some helpful tips:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/health/02patient.html?_r=2&emc=eta1