Forbes on what the health care reform bill means
for women
·
Insurance companies will no longer be able to
charge higher premiums on the basis of gender.
·
Preventative services like mammograms and immunizations
will be fully covered by private health plans and Medicare.
·
All health plans will also now be required to
cover maternity and newborn care, as well as pediatric services expanded to
include dental and vision care.
·
Bars insurers from discriminating on
pre-existing conditions.
·
Children with pre-existing conditions will be
able to receive coverage.
·
Insurance companies will also now allow young
adults to remain on a parent's plan through age 26.
·
Another portion of the bill will affect
small-business owners, many of whom are women. (Women are forming small
businesses at twice the rate of men.) If they provide insurance to their
employees, their businesses will be eligible for tax credits.
To read the full article: http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/23/health-care-bill-peolosi-forbes-woman-well-being-health-insurance-expenses.html
Maternal deaths in the U.S. have doubled over the last 20
years, according to a new report from Amnesty International
The report, titled "Deadly Delivery," frames the
issue "as part of a systematic violation of women's rights." About
half of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are preventable, according to the
report. Nan Strauss, the report's co-author, said, "In the U.S., we
spend more than any other country on health care, yet American women are at
greater risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes than in 40 other
countries." She also said, "Women are not dying from complex,
mysterious causes that we don't know how to treat," adding, "Women
are dying because it's a fragmented system, and they are not getting the
comprehensive services that they need" (Time, 3/12).
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/News2?abbr=daily4_&page=NewsArticle&id=23746&security=1521&news_iv_ctrl=-1
Equality remains a distant hope, according to pioneering
feminist Gloria Steinem
As she celebrates her 76th birthday, Steinem
laments the fact that "American women workers still earn only 70 cents to men's
$1, women are barred from combat, women's health care premiums are higher and
raising children is not counted as productive work." For those awaiting a woman
president of the United States, Steinem throws more cold water on their hopes,
claiming she will likely not see that in her lifetime.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/03/17/us/politics/politics-us-steinem.html
Zainab
Salbi, President of Women for Women International, believes economic power is
key to women's empowerment (Salbi
was profiled in Half the Sky)
According to Salbi, "The formula for
change is not simply giving women more money. And education is very important,
but without economic power, it's very frustrating. So we need them both."
This is one of the reasons Salbi co-founded and runs Women for Women
International, which has helped more than 150,000 female survivors of wars around
the world. Our focus is on the combination of economic access and education for
women," she says. Salbi grew up in Baghdad and her father was Saddam
Hussein's personal pilot. http://www.womenforwomen.org/about-women-for-women/zainab-salbi.php
