President Obama has made health care reform a top priority, which is welcome news to millions of un- or under-insured Americans. Under the current system, women who purchase their own coverage already pay more then men – sometimes up to 50% more. As justification for the higher rates, insurers cite the fact that women tend to use more heath care, especially during their childbearing years. However, the rate disparity between women and men doesn’t disappear in insurance plans which do not cover maternity care. Healthcare reform holds the promise of more equitable pricing of insurance for men and women. 

Women (both insured and uninsured) shouldn’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet, however.  Women’s access to reproductive health care is currently under attack from both the left and the right. Nineteen House Democrats have said that they will not vote for healthcare legislation unless it explicitly excludes abortion coverage. The Republican leadership of the Senate Finance Committee is considering language in healthcare reform legislation that would eliminate coverage for abortion services. The exclusion of abortion services could result in women who currently have coverage losing that coverage, and prevent currently uninsured women from ever receiving coverage.

Health insurance is only as good as the services it covers, and having health insurance that doesn’t cover the services you need is tantamount to having no health insurance at all.  While healthcare reform is essential, reform at the expense of women’s health is too high a price to pay.  In addition to expanding the number of people who have health insurance, lawmakers should ensure that reform includes the healthcare services Americans need. In the case of American women, that need is comprehensive reproductive healthcare, including abortion coverage. Comprehensive health care reform should be just that – comprehensive.

-Megan Mullett

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 4:43 pm and is filed under abortion, contraception, interns, politics, pregnancy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.