Search Results for "poverty"
Does Your University Health Care Plan Cover Birth Control?
Published November 16, 2009 @ 12:45PM PT
Last Friday I received this letter (after the jump) from a young woman at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania who recently found out that her student health insurance, Consolidated Health Plans, does NOT cover birth control. This same insurance broker arranges coverage for 60 other colleges in the upper Northeast, including schools such as Brown, The New School, and Sarah Lawrence college, among others.
Take a look at the letter that this college student sent to her university administration about the policy and make sure you read the fine print in your own student health insurance plan. You can see the offending part of the Lehigh plan in this PDF, under Exclusions and Limitations, which says "No benefits will be paid for loss or expense caused by, contributed to, or resulting from: 16. Reproductive/infertility services including but limited to: birth control; family planning; fertility test; infertility (male or female), including any services or supplies rendered for the purpose or with the intent of inducing conception."
You too may need to contact your administration and student health insurance broker to protest similar restricitions.
(It should be noted that condoms, however, are issued for free at Lehigh College. So boys can use birth control, but girls can't?)
Health Care Passed in House, Women Used As Political Poker Chip
Published November 09, 2009 @ 08:22AM PT
I don't know about you, but today I have a health care hangover. After the House of Representatives passed the Affordable Health Care Act this weekend, which include the vitriolic Stupak-Pitts amendment, my emotional and mental well has been completely drained.
While the 220-215 vote cleared the way for the Senate to begin debate on the bill, the battles that occurred on Saturday offered a sobering reality of just how far we have to go before women are considered as more than a political poker chip.
But before I go on about how reproductive choice is seriously threatened by the Stupak-Pitts amendment, let's go over the positive parts of the bill that were passed on Saturday night:
- Lower taxes for gay couples who receive health benefits from employers.
- Nutrition labeling requirements for snack food sold in vending machines and many restaurants.
- A new program to teach parents how to interact with their children.
- The House legislation would require most Americans to obtain health insurance or face penalties.
- Most employers would have to provide coverage or pay a tax penalty of up to 8 percent of their payroll.
- The bill would significantly expand Medicaid and would offer subsidies to help moderate-income people buy insurance from private companies or from a government insurance plan.
- It would set up a national insurance exchange where people could shop for coverage.
While these provisions certainly make me happy that we are doing something to reform America's "sickcare" system, I am ultimately disturbed that it was passed at the expense of women's access to reproductive health.
A Low-Income Woman's Nation: How A Green Economy Can Help Those Struggling Most
Published October 23, 2009 @ 12:13PM PT
This past week Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress released a seminal report on the emergence of women as primary wage earners for millions of families. The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything, marks a promising step forward in the evolution of a society that for too long has failed to adjust policies and practices to women's growing presence in the workplace.
Left in the shadows of this otherwise comprehensive report, however, were the unique obstacles faced by those struggling most to make ends meet-low-income single mothers trying to support their families on paltry wages in jobs that offer no prospects for a better future. Any serious national discussion on the obstacles confronting women in the workforce must include a special focus on the growing numbers of women toiling at the bottom of the economic ladder.
Poverty, The Public Option & Abortion
Published September 12, 2009 @ 05:50AM PT
National Women's Law Center shares troubling news from the recent release of the 2008 Census about women, health care and poverty:
Census data released today for 2008 show that growing numbers of women lost private health care coverage, saw their incomes decline, and fell into poverty, according to an analysis by the National Women's Law Center (NWLC). The Census data released today are for 2008 and do not reflect the impact of the decline in real wages, dramatic increase in unemployment, and corresponding loss of employer-sponsored health insurance in 2009.
"The Census data show increasing numbers of women are joining the ranks of the uninsured - at great risk to their health and financial security," said Marcia D. Greenberger, NWLC Co-President. Compared to 2007, nearly half a million more women lacked coverage - bringing the total number of women without insurance in 2008 to nearly 17.6 million.
The data show that poverty and extreme poverty increased for women, children, and men. The number of women living in poverty increased by 800,000 since 2007 to a total of 15.2 million in 2008.
When times get tough, the tough need to get tougher. We cannot let women, particularly those in poverty, lose out on the public option nor access to a full suite of reproductive health medical procedures. Now is the time to stand up to the politicians and demand the public option - one that includes access to abortion.
Need some ammunition? Take a look at what Gloria Feldt wrote on the subject of health care and abortion for The Daily Beast - it should give you a few pointers:
This isn't about abortion at all. It's about derailing health-care reform by any means necessary. And if the health and lives of women are collateral damage, well, that's two for the price of one.
Despite claims that covering abortion causes or encourages it, facts show the opposite. Countries like France, Germany, and The Netherlands routinely cover abortion in their national health plans, and have some of the lowest abortion rates in the world... Contrary to those apocalyptic headlines, the Washington-based Mellman Group's national poll released in July confirms voters overwhelmingly (71% yes, 21% no) support requiring coverage of reproductive-health services for women...
Uncover the myth that abortion is outside mainstream medicine. It's one of the most common surgical procedures in America. Almost half of all women will have an unintended pregnancy during their lifetimes and one-third of women - 60% of them mothers of one or more children already - will have abortions, the Guttmacher institute reports...
Uncover the truth about those who don't just wish to prevent abortions but want to control women's bodies, period. If they were genuinely concerned about preventing abortions, they'd join the president's quest to find "common ground" on birth control and sex education-proven abortion antidotes.
Don't further marginalize those who are already hit hardest by the broken health care system and the crippled economy. Don't sink poor women into a deeper hole with more children at their feet without proper options about whether or not to have a child in the first place. Pass the public option with abortion access. It's the only real way to make this health care plan truly encompass all options, for the "public."
Friday Femme Fatale: Astronauts, Welfare & Real Women
Published October 09, 2009 @ 04:21PM PT
It's been yet another crazy week. From live-tweeting at the United Nations conference on disarmament to meeting Women for Women International founder, Zainab Salbi, to being surprised (but not shocked) at how far anti-choice lawmakers will go to take away reproductive choice - I can say with a lot of relief, "Thank GOD it is Friday."
In case you had a busy week just like me, here are some of the stories you may have missed from the fem-o-sphere. Enjoy.
- Flipping the Script on Poverty (Color Lines)
- California's Zigzag on Welfare Rules Worries Experts (New York Times)
- Dear Mom, Beck has history of sexist comments (Media Matters)
- Daylight Lessons from Letterman's Late Night Escapades (Women's Media Center)
- Universities Target Rape Prevention Through Alcohol Awareness Program (RH Reality Check)
- Sakena Yacoobi's Vision for Afghanistan (Women's Media Center)
- Army's 'Resiliency' Training Misses The Point (Nancy Goldstein)
Clinton Global Initiative: Investing in Female Changemakers
Published October 21, 2009 @ 11:26AM PT
The plight of women and girls in the developing world is a book of sobering stories with very few happy endings. Year after year, we are reminded of some of the most jarring injustices of our time, most of which go unrecognized, let alone unpunished. And yet, hope for action is on the horizon. The Clinton Global Initiative, along with some inspirational stories to both humble and inspire us, just might have signal the arrival of this increasingly crucial issue to the forefront of the agenda.
The 5th annual CGI meeting, held this past September, serves as the gathering grounds for hundreds of influential leaders, scholars, business executives, celebrities, and journalists to discuss and engage in multi-sector cooperation towards a common development goal. Tackling poverty alleviation, climate change, and the promotion of economic opportunity - CGI annually highlights the most critical development issues of our time - topics worthy of the utmost global recognition and concern. This year CGI is again addressing these subjects, but to the hope of many there is a new issue on the agenda: the subject of investments in girls and women.
Adding this new component of CGI may very well begin elevating the issues of women's inclusion to a top priority on the global development agenda. CGI has an opportunity to truly assert women's development, making it an argument that can no longer be viewed as 'soft' or only relevant to women, elevating it from a distant second relative to poverty alleviation, AIDS prevention, climate change, etc. to other development issues. In fact, one could even argue that women's development underpins the advancement of each of these agendas.
Investing in women has a domino effect of sorts, with women's empowerment adding to the prosperity of entire societies. Women and girls who earn money reinvest up to 90% of it into their families, as compared to only 30% or 40 % by men. Furthermore, if girls' enrollment in schools increases by only 10%, the country's economy will grow steadily by 3%, showing again how investments in girls and women benefit both genders, community, and country. Top scholars and leaders are arguing more and more that investing in women, unequivocally, simply makes sense for everyone, and it is time we looked at how this agenda could play out, and took note of some of the key changemakers in this movement.
Friday Femme Fatale: AirAmerica.com, Airbrushing and Arms Trade
Published October 16, 2009 @ 05:35PM PT
Things were pretty calm this week around the fem-o-sphere. Apparently people were a little too caught up watching flying helium objects and making fun of the GOP.com #fail to discuss items in the realm of women's rights.
Sigh.
I, however, had a very busy week. I was not watching balloons in the sky, but rather launching a new website over at AirAmerica.com, the place where I spend most of my time when I'm not writing here at Change.org.
