health care

One of the things I really miss about being a college student in the U.S is access to reproductive healthcare. A year or so ago, I could simple walk down to the health centre in between classes, pay little or no money and within a few minutes of waiting, be ushered in to see a friendly and understanding nurse practitioner. This non-judgemental and knowledgeable woman, would not blink at answers to questions about the number or gender of previous sexual partners. She was happy to recommend a free trial of the latest in contraceptive innovation like the Nuvaring (which I am sure had been asked to punt by pharmaceutical representatives). She even left me voicemails of my test results or mailed them to me on a cheerful card so I did not have to come into the centre a second time. Going to see the gynaecologist is rarely a fun experience, but it really should always be so easy.

A Huffington Post article says that in 8 states being a victim of domestic violence can be considered a pre-existing condition.

So as if it is not bad enough that women are often threatened or intimidated into not reporting domestic violence they now also have to be concerned that reporting abuse could cause them to be denied health insurance in the future.

Yeah private corporate owned health insurance policies rock. I just love that even if I got health insurance coverage it wouldn't necessary cover the cost of birth control pills, would not cover the cost of abortions and would consider any past reports of domestic violence a pre-existing condition. The free market works so well.

"Without competition, the price of insurance goes up and the quality goes down. And it makes it easier for insurance companies to treat their customers badly - by cherry-picking the healthiest individuals and trying to drop the sickest; by overcharging small businesses who have no leverage; and by jacking up rates.

Insurance executives don't do this because they are bad people. They do it because it's profitable."

UM.

[Speechless]

Can I... can I gesture madly about the room and ask, "Did anybody else see that?" Am I going crazy? He did NOT just say that. I wasn't watching the speech, I just read it--was there a visible confused flinch from the audience, or did people just dully stare past it?

A copy of "Our Bodies, Ourselves" showed up on the bookshelf where I work this week. Woo hoo!

I've been listening to female musicians in my car all week. Karen O of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs makes me happy.

I saw an interview with Joan Baez. Amazing person with an amazing sense of the power of her voice and words.

I've also been frustrated over the whole health care debate. If the world ever needed feminism it is now. Yet I feel like a true and honest conversation about the health care challenges women are facing are being ignored.

The same old sexist standpoint is being taken. The same reason why women should not have access to abortion is being now used to defend pregnant women not have access to prenatal care. Women, should plan pregnancy or be responsible for the consequences they should not expect a "hand out" from the government. It is very easy for people who have great health insurance to ignore those without or people who have insurance with high deductibles that don't cover things like prenatal appointments or women who lost their insurance coverage when their husbands lost their jobs. Or women who became pregnant because hormonal birth control was not paid for through their insurance company. Or the women who became pregnant because their doctors refused to give them an IUD or sterilization surgery because the woman was too young, did not have previous children or whatever sexist excuse they could come up with.

I love my parents. Love them. They've been such a positive influence in my life...there's no way to thank them enough for what they've done.

However, I'm 21. I want to be on my own. But...

...I have to stay on my parents' insurance plan. Since there's no way I could pay for the cobra policy, they pay for it. They pay over $500 a month- not including co-pays for doctor appointments and visits- just to keep me on the insurance plan. Medical care just costs that much for me.

This is necessary care. The medication and doctor's appointments are not optional. And, there's no way on my barely-there "salary" that I could ever, ever afford this on my own.

Plan B. Oh, Plan B, the stony path you've tread! After years of being ignored by that bureaucratic anti-science convention, they might finally be giving you a chance to help women through out the country.

According to the Washington Post (link), the FDA has spoken out, saying that they want to meet with Plan B's parent Barr Pharmaceuticals "within seven days." This announcement comes the day before Senate confirmation hearings begin to make the temporary head of the FDA the permanent one. And why is this so pressing? Because many Democratic Senators have refused to confirm a permanent head until the FDA reviewed the two-pill series. Apparently everyone forgot that it got a 23 to 4 approval for over-the counter (OTC) dispensation from an FDA advisory board back in 2003.