PPIL on Health Care Reform
As discussions around the topic of health care reform continue in Washington, providers like Planned Parenthood have a valuable message to send. Planned Parenthood of Illinois CEO and President, Steve Trombley, recently expressed his thoughts on the importance of reproductive health care and access to community health providers in a piece in the Chicago Sun Times. Read the full text below or click here to link to the article in the Sun Times.
By STEVE TROMBLEY
How reproductive health care is dealt with in national health care reform is no small matter. And who provides this care is still to be determined.
For communities in and around Chicago, local health centers are where many people turn for trusted health care. Community health providers, like Planned Parenthood, often serve as an entry point for essential health care needs. And Planned Parenthood of Illinois isn't the only health center women rely on for preventive care.
Today, one in four women who receives contraceptive care does so at a women's health center. One in six who obtains a Pap test or a pelvic exam does so at a women's health center, as do one-third of women who receive counseling, testing or treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. This basic health care is essential, particularly during difficult economic times, to give women the tools they need to protect and support their families. This is particularly true when you consider that women of childbearing age spend a remark- able 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men, in part because of reproductive health-related needs.
As Congress works to enact health care reform, they must make women's health a priority and ensure that reproductive health care is covered. While this fact should be a given, the truth is that family planning and reproductive health care are still not fully part of mainstream health care, even though 98 percent of women use contraception at some point in their lives.
Two recent reports underscore the need for women's health to be an integral part of health care reform.
A recent report by the Department of Health and Human Services, "Roadblocks to Health Care: Why the Current Health Care System Does Not Work for Women," places an important spotlight on the impact that the nation's health care crisis is having on women, particularly women of childbearing age. The report states that "women are more vulnerable to high health care costs . . . [because] women's reproductive health requires more regular contact with health-care providers, including yearly Pap tests, mammograms and obstetric care."
And a 2009 survey conducted for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists found that women are delaying their annual exams as a result of the economic downturn.
These reports demonstrate the importance of ensuring comprehensive health care reform that meets the needs of American women and their families. To do this, health plans participating in any health insurance exchange must include community health providers in their network.
Protecting community health providers is fundamental to solving provider-access issues that will come with expanding coverage and ensuring Americans can access trusted providers wherever they live. Each year, Planned Parenthood health centers across the country perform nearly one million Pap tests, identifying 93,000 women at risk of developing cervical cancer. And we provide more than 850,000 breast exams a year. In Illinois alone, Planned Parenthood of Illinois provides these preventive health care services to nearly 80,000 patients each year.
Under health care reform, women must have access to reproductive health care and their women's health provider. Women cannot be worse off after health care reform than they are today.
How essential is your community health provider? The answer is simple -- if Americans want real health reform, community health providers must be part of the plan.
Technorati tags: Planned Parenthood of Illinois, health care reform, reproductive health
By STEVE TROMBLEY
How reproductive health care is dealt with in national health care reform is no small matter. And who provides this care is still to be determined.
For communities in and around Chicago, local health centers are where many people turn for trusted health care. Community health providers, like Planned Parenthood, often serve as an entry point for essential health care needs. And Planned Parenthood of Illinois isn't the only health center women rely on for preventive care.
Today, one in four women who receives contraceptive care does so at a women's health center. One in six who obtains a Pap test or a pelvic exam does so at a women's health center, as do one-third of women who receive counseling, testing or treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. This basic health care is essential, particularly during difficult economic times, to give women the tools they need to protect and support their families. This is particularly true when you consider that women of childbearing age spend a remark- able 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men, in part because of reproductive health-related needs.
As Congress works to enact health care reform, they must make women's health a priority and ensure that reproductive health care is covered. While this fact should be a given, the truth is that family planning and reproductive health care are still not fully part of mainstream health care, even though 98 percent of women use contraception at some point in their lives.
Two recent reports underscore the need for women's health to be an integral part of health care reform.
A recent report by the Department of Health and Human Services, "Roadblocks to Health Care: Why the Current Health Care System Does Not Work for Women," places an important spotlight on the impact that the nation's health care crisis is having on women, particularly women of childbearing age. The report states that "women are more vulnerable to high health care costs . . . [because] women's reproductive health requires more regular contact with health-care providers, including yearly Pap tests, mammograms and obstetric care."
And a 2009 survey conducted for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists found that women are delaying their annual exams as a result of the economic downturn.
These reports demonstrate the importance of ensuring comprehensive health care reform that meets the needs of American women and their families. To do this, health plans participating in any health insurance exchange must include community health providers in their network.
Protecting community health providers is fundamental to solving provider-access issues that will come with expanding coverage and ensuring Americans can access trusted providers wherever they live. Each year, Planned Parenthood health centers across the country perform nearly one million Pap tests, identifying 93,000 women at risk of developing cervical cancer. And we provide more than 850,000 breast exams a year. In Illinois alone, Planned Parenthood of Illinois provides these preventive health care services to nearly 80,000 patients each year.
Under health care reform, women must have access to reproductive health care and their women's health provider. Women cannot be worse off after health care reform than they are today.
How essential is your community health provider? The answer is simple -- if Americans want real health reform, community health providers must be part of the plan.
Technorati tags: Planned Parenthood of Illinois, health care reform, reproductive health
posted by Planned Parenthood at
2:36 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Please be respectful of differing opinions and focus your comments on the featured topic or relevant subject matter. Comments that contain profanity, verbal attacks, threatening or inflammatory language are subject to immediate deletion.
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home