As if that were not bad enough, states like Minnesota that have made a commitment to women can anticipate a full-throttled attack on that commitment.  I provided a policy overview of what health care reform would look like in Minnesota here but want to draw attention to one point–Medicaid.  Now I know nothing puts people to sleep quite like talking about state funding vehicles, so I’ll be brief.  Minnesota is one of a handful of states that currently uses Medicaid funds to provide abortion-related services to recipients beyond the circumstances of rape and/or incest.  The funding mechanisms and the insurance exchanges put forth in federal health care reform, combined with razor-thin support for continued funding and billion-dollar state deficits makes this an easy target for “reform.”  Whatever happens with health care reform on the national level we can expect to see another assault on choice and access at the state level.  And if reform passes, expect a broader coalition of groups and legislators going after this Medicaid funding.

Many choice activists felt blindsided by the Stupak/Nelson/Hatch abortion shennanigans in the crafting of health care reform legislation.  There’s no reason why we should be as blindsided at the state level.  Consider yourself warned and let’s get prepared.

While men are more likely than women to be uninsured, women’s health coverage is more volatile. Why? Because only 38 percent of women have health coverage through their own job, compared to 50 percent of men. That means women are about twice as likely as men to depend on a spouse or partner’s employer-provided health plan. The negative outcomes here are pretty obvious: For an American woman, the end of a romantic relationship is often not just emotionally tumultuous but medically tumultuous as well, for both herself and her children.

A study in the journal Health Services Research concluded that a husband’s transition from employer-based coverage to Medicare at age 65 can be especially problematic for his younger wife or partner. She must give up her dependent coverage before she herself is eligible for Medicare. Women who experience such disruptions in health care “had a greater probability of experiencing a change in usual clinic/provider (71 percent), delaying filling or taking fewer medications than prescribed because of cost (75 percent), going to the emergency room (52 percent), and had lower average mental health scores than women who did not experience an insurance disruption,” the authors write.

With illness being the leading cause for bankruptcy in this country, health insurance often means not just your physical, but your economic health as well.

Just one of the many reasons health care reform is truly an issue of utmost importance to women.