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Preconception Health and Health Care Update
Greetings
This is a monthly communication for individuals interested in improving the health of women and infants through preconception health and health care. We welcome your readership and contributions. |
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Realizing ACA Health Reform Potential for Improving Women's Health 
Thirty million women will benefit from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its health reform provisions over the next decade, either through new or improved coverage, according to a new study, entitled Realizing Health Reform's Potential: Women and the Affordable Care Act of 2010.
This excellent and detailed issue brief, released on July 30 by the Commonwealth Fund, analyzes how, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is likely to improve women's coverage over the next decade.
The brief documents how some 15 million women who now are uninsured could gain subsidized coverage under the law and an additional 14.5 million insured women could benefit from better coverage or reduced premiums. Medicaid, plans in the Health Insurance Exchanges, and other private plans will all be strengthened in ways that benefit women.The law's provisions that are particularly important to women include: an expansion of Medicaid eligibility; subsidies for purchasing insurance; limits on out-of-pocket spending; a prohibition against insurers charging higher premiums or denying coverage based on health status or gender; and the requirement that new health plans cover maternity and newborn care.
Citation: S. Collins, S. Rustgi, and M. Doty, Realizing Health Reform's Potential: Women and the Affordable Care Act of 2010, The Commonwealth Fund, July 2010.
Other resources on the potential postitive impact of health reform on women's health are available at www.healthreform.gov. Click here to download the slides from the webinar hosted by the CDC Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative on May 20, 2010 regarding Health Reform, Women, and Preconception Health Care. You can also retrieve the archived Preconception e-news edition that summarized related provisions of the health reform law. |
Preconception Health in Florida
Florida's has released its first preconception health indicator report entitled: Preconception Health: An Issue for Every Woman of Childbearing Age in Florida. Issued by the Division of Family Health Services, Bureau of Family and Community Health (Florida's Title V program), the report provides a detailed look at the status of preconception health among Florida's women of childbearing age.
The report examines how Florida compares to the U.S., compares over time, and compares among different socio-demographic groups, covering ten different domains from health care to chronic diseases, from infections to mental health. It uses key indicators from the recently released state preconception indicators set. Key findings include the excess rates of unintended pregnancy and obesity among Florida women of childbearing age.
The report can be downloaded in full or in sections. Click here to download.
Citation: Womack L and Sappenfield WS. Preconception Health: An Issue for Every Woman of Childbearting Age in Florida. Florida Department of Health, July 2010. |
HIV/AIDS Preconception Care Guideline
The New York State Department of Health, Office of the Medical Director just released a new professional guideline on Preconception Care for HIV-Infected Women. Produced by Women's Health Committee, this guideline addresses the clinical needs and treatment of all women with HIV who are considering pregnancy as well as the care of HIV-infected women of childbearing potential. It states: "Clinicians should provide preconception counseling for all women of childbearing potential during the first few visits after the diagnosis of HIV infection and at least annually thereafter...When discussing preconception care, clinicians should stress the importance of optimal maternal health before conception. These discussions should be nonjudgmental, reassuring, and respectful of patients' autonomy in reproductive decision-making." To see and download this guideline, visit www.hivguidelines.org, or click on this link: Preconception Care for HIV-Infected Women |
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| Preconception Care Provider Algorithm
The Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care recently released "Planning for a Healthy Future: Algorithm for Providers Caring for Women of Childbearing Age." Developed by Charlene Galston, chair of the Preconception and Prenatal Care Committee of the Association, this algorithm is designed to help providers visualize and plan for care of women in their childbearing years with regard to their overall health and reproductive risks. Health care providers can use the algorithm to integrate preconception and interconception care into well-woman care.
Click here to download an Adobe Acrobat PDF version of this new algorithm. |
| Upcoming Conferences and Meetings
The First European Congress on Preconception Care and Preconception Health will be held in Brussells, October 6-9, 2010. Click here to see the register or see the program.
The Health Resources and Services Administration's 75th Anniversary Commemoration of Title V on October 20 at the Washington Hilton. For more information on that meeting,visit www.hrsa.gov/mchb75
On the day after the 75th Anniversary Commemoration there will be a special meeting on health reform: Looking to the Future: Opportunities and Challenges in Health Reform for Maternal and Child Health. This one-day meeting co-sponsored by AMCHP and CityMatCH will provide a forum for public health and health care leaders to assess the impact of health reform on maternal and child health programs.
The 20th Anniversary CityMatCH meeting will be held September 12 - 14, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. For more information visit the conference website.
The upcoming AMCHP Annual Conference will be held February 12-15, 2011. It will be co-located with the Family Voices National Conference in Washington, DC with the theme "Working Together to Improve Maternal and Child Health." The "Call for Session Proposals" is open through August 23, 2010! For more information, visit: http://www.amchp.org/conference |
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30 MILLION WOMEN
"The most sweeping health insurance reforms included in the Affordable Care Act will be implemented in 2014. Nearly 17 million working-age women ages 19 to 64 were without health insurance in 2008-about 18 percent of all women in that age group... Women will also benefit from gains in health insurance coverage and the associated improvements in access to care and coverage of medical expenses resulting from their children, spouses, and parents gaining insurance." Collins et al.
There will be particularly large gains for women living in states where their risk of being uninsured is greater. This includes: New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Mississippi, and West Virginia, Idaho, Kentucky, Nevada, and Oklahoma, where more than one in five women is uninsured.
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