Top 5 Reasons Health Insurance Isn't Fair to Women
Posted in Just the facts, health care on May 28th, 2009 by Robin Marty – Be the first to commentVia Momocrats
5. Twenty-one million women and girls went without health insurance in 2007. In addition to requiring reproductive health care – yearly pap smears, mammograms, and obstetric care – women are twice as likely to suffer from headaches, and more likely to experience joint, back or neck pain. Women are also four times as likely to develop osteoporosis.
4. Women are less likely to be employed full-time than men, making them less eligible for employer-based health benefits themselves. In fact, less than half of women can get health insurance through their work.
3. A survey by the National Women’s Law Center found that the vast majority of individual market health insurance policies did not cover maternity care. Moreover, it is still legal in 9 states for insurers to reject applicants who are survivors of domestic violence.
2. In a recent national survey, more than half of women (52%) reported delaying or avoiding needed care because of cost, compared with 39% of men. In addition, one-third of women were forced to make a difficult trade-off such as using up their savings, taking on debt, or giving up basic necessities.
1. Women are often charged higher premiums than men. Holding other factors constant, a 22 year old woman can be charged one and a half times the premium of a 22 year old man.
Read the whole post, including action you can take to protest health care inequity, here.
