Jennifer Gomez, an MU graduate, doesn’t take the stairs anymore. It’s not because she’s lazy – she’ll die.
Five inhalers and $2,000 later, an asthmatic Gomez just might be able to do something plenty take for granted every day.
She’s just another addition to the growing number of uninsured women in the United States. This may sound like a casual factoid to some, but to those who are a part of this group, the future is much more serious.
The 2008 election treats health care as a multi-faceted issue – both candidates have different ideas about health care structure, reforming the current health care system and the extent of health coverage.
“Women and children are the largest group of uninsured and underinsured, as well as the poorest,” says Cheryl Fuller, Ph.D., C.R.N.P., adjunct professor in MU’s nursing department. Women are also more likely to have problems accessing health care due to cost, according to www.health08.org.
Almost 17 million or one out of every five, women are uninsured in the United States, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to provide non-partisan information about health care.
Women are more likely to manage family care, to have lower incomes than men and also require more planning for long-term care, as women are statistically shown to live longer than men. Women are also the key beneficiaries of public health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. More women (38 percent) are also reported to require chronic care than men (30 percent). Younger women are less likely to have a regular health care provider than older women. Mental health is also a health issue for women, as nearly one in four (23 percent) were diagnosed with anxiety or depression – two times more often than men (11 percent).
Gomez had benefits under an insurance plan provided by her father’s realty business. Graduating from MU with high honors and spending the summer tearing out classifieds finally paid off – she got a job. But well-wishers were matched with just as many worries. Gomez was let go from her father’s health care plan for a job that has a waiting period for insurance, and with pre-existing chronic conditions like asthma and an extra vertebrae, health care is one of her top priorities.
“I’m moving into a new apartment and I can’t do any lifting due to my vertebrae,” says Gomez.
Fuller has experienced these statistics firsthand at her private practice in Kingston, PA. The former full time nursing professor took time off to open her own practice, Women To Women, Inc., with two other nurse practitioners to help women and families in need of health care. Fuller has worked with Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell by enrolling hundreds of women into a program called the Family Planning Clinic system that would allow women to get obstetric and gynecological care, education about family planning, and preventative screenings at no cost, provided they met the income standards. Women would also be able to receive birth control, which only a mandatory benefit in 27 states.
Gomez knows the common cold is not only her concern as a female with out coverage. “I feel like the cost difference between men and women is overlooked,” she says.
Ashley Ranaldi, LCCC Junior, also knows the consequences of poor medical coverage. “I got mono in my freshman year when I didn’t have health insurance,” she says. “I’m still paying the bills.”
In a 2004 study done by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of California, 54 percent of women polled were taking daily prescription medications. One-third, or 32 percent, of these women reported to have trouble refilling these prescriptions due to affordability, which resulted in delaying the refill or reducing their daily dosage.
The study also found that women in poor health were less likely to receive the proper care they needed to compare to those women in favorable health. These women in poor health are also prone to stress due to financial, familial, and health issues, which may prove to worsen existing medical conditions.
The quality of health care for women is ailing, too. Women use health care providers for their main source of health information, but fewer than half of them actually discuss important health issues with their doctor, including diet and exercise, calcium intake, smoking, and alcohol use, according to the 2004 study. Less than 40 percent of women discussed reproductive issues with their doctor.
Gomez knows that this year’s election will have an impact on her immediate future. “I may not be without health insurance for long,” she says. “But the election could determine whether or not this would ever be a problem for anyone else.”
Both candidates in this year’s election have different outlooks on women’s health care, but Fuller thinks more and one issue should be the deciding factor. “The last statement of the National Catholic Conference of Bishops really interested me,” she says. “It was about how to vote. They said, ‘Don’t vote for a candidate just for one issue.”
For more information about women’s health care, visit the Kaiser Foundation’s website, www.kff.org.
Election Can Change Statistic Forever
Published: Saturday, November 1, 2008
Updated: Monday, November 3, 2008 10:11
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