EWSE Fall Webinar Series
NOVEMBER
Connecting Women with Health Care in the
South: Overcoming Challenges & Leading the Way
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
1:00-2:30pm EST / 12:00-1:30pm CST
Please click here for more information.
DECEMBER
Closing the Black/White Gap in Infant Mortality: Ideas, Successes and Lessons Learned from the Wisconsin Life Course Initiative
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
1:00-2:00 EST / 12:00-1:00 CST
Please click here for more information
ARCHIVED WEBINAR
Addressing Racism's Impact on Women's and Infant's Health: Lessons Learned from the Racial Healing Projects in Tennessee
Presented on October 30, 2013
Please click here for the archived webinar
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Kentucky Praised for Its Health Insurance Exchange!
In addition to being the only state in the southeast that chose to expand Medicaid, Kentucky is being lauded for its efficient state-run health insurance exchange, Kynect. Click here for the full article in the New York Tiimes.
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Uninsured in Coverage Gap Likely to Remain That WayThe Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF)
has found that the coverage gap for poor Americans who won't be able to enroll in Medicaid or get subsidies in the new health care exchanges is concentrated in five of the 25 states that have decided not to expand Medicaid. KFF reports that, of the 5.2 million uninsured people who won't qualify for Medicaid because their states are not expanding the program, more than half live in Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio.
The only option for low-income people who will not qualify for Medicaid is to get insurance through the new marketplaces. But the health care law prohibits anyone with an income below the poverty line to get a federal premiums subsidy, the assumption being that they would enroll in Medicaid. Without a federal subsidy, these Americans are unlikely to be able to afford to buy insurance. The people affected by this gap, the Kaiser report says, "represents more than a quarter (27 percent) of all the uninsured adults ages 19 to 64 in the states not moving forward with the Medicaid expansion. The share ranges from 18 percent in Alaska to 37 percent in Mississippi." Click here for the full report. 
For another look at the coverage gap and how it is affecting women, particularly African American women, in the South, please see the New York Times article Millions of Poor are Left Uncovered by Health Law.
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Become a Certified Application Counselor Organization & Help People Get Coverage
If your organization is a non-profit social service agency, a community health center or other health care provider or a hospital in a state with a Federally-facilitated Marketplace or a State Partnership Marketplace, and you would like to train your staff to assist people in getting coverage through the Marketplace, you can apply to be a Certified application counselor (CAC) organization. As a CAC organization, your staff and volunteers will help people understand, apply, and enroll for health coverage through the Marketplace. To learn more about becoming a Certified Application Counselor, click here.
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Don't Forget to Read our Blog!
 | | Savannah Cooksey & Juanita Graham of Mississippi |
Our blog currently features a post from Callie Womble who is a graduate student, EWSE intern, and former Preconception Health Peer Educator. Callie did a lot of work on the Women's Voices Survey and shares her ideas with us. The blog also features a post from a recent visit to Team Mississippi in Gulfport.
Have something to say? Let us know - we welcome new bloggers any time!
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Tell Us What YOU Think!
How can we find more ways to listen to women?
How can public health and community groups partner with health care providers to make it easy for them to ask the key questions and then refer women to the resources they need to improve their health?
How can we counter ACA fears with facts?
What resources do you use to address women's health in your community?
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THIS MONTH:
What Women Think About Health
Feedback from the Field & the ACA Continued!
Autumn is officially here! With the holidays approaching and the flurry of activity that comes along with them, it is a great time to think about women's wellness. As we heard from the women who responded to our survey, women in the South are already very BUSY! So adding more activities (and tempting foods - leftover Halloween candy anyone?) to the menu of life may make it difficult for women to be well. We encourage our public health partners across the region to think creatively about ways to make it easier this season for women in your community.
This issue also continues to focus on access to care for women in our region. While the initial roll out of the ACA has been challenging, we are living in a time when we can help shape history. The ACA is one important step forward in actualizing the value that health is a human right. Based on our survey we know that even insured women need health care reform! There are many myths and fears out there that we can help address....and in the South there is more work to be done to make sure that all women have equal access to health care.
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EWSE Women's Voices Survey
Executive Summary
The Southeastern Women's Voices Survey was designed to shed light on the barriers that women face in access ing health care services, the services and screenings that could benefit women in our region, and how we can reach women with information about the Affordable Care Act and key preventive health services. If you participated in the Women's Voices Survey - THANK YOU! Thanks to the help from women all over the region, we had over 1,950 completed surveys! Consisting of 24 multiple choice and open-ended questions, we learned some great information. Our favorite part of the survey was reading the women's ideas around improving their health and the health of their communities.
Please click here for the executive summary of our results!
 | | Thank you to Carol Brady and Kim Wyche-Etheridge, EWSE Leadership Team Members, who came up with the Women's Voices Survey idea and led its roll out! |
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Health Reform:
Implications for Women's Access to Coverage and Care
Implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is well under way. Since its passage in 2010, a number of provisions have already taken effect and federal and several state governments are moving forward to implement the rest of the law's major provisions. The ACA holds the potential to expand women's access to health insurance coverage and includes other reforms designed to strengthen the existing health care system's ability to serve millions of women. Already women can no longer be charged higher premiums because of their gender. Health plans must cover maternity care. And we can keep our children under our health insurance "wing" until they are 26. Health care has long been a fundamental policy priority for women, reflecting their experiences with the health care system as patients, mothers, and caregivers for frail and disabled family members. This brief discusses the impact of the health reform law for women on their access to coverage, health care affordability, scope of benefits, reproductive health, and long-term care - all priority issues for women. Click here for the full article.
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Welcome Angela!
New Staff member joins the Coalition
Angela Doyinsola Aina is a Public Health Prevention Service (PHPS)  Fellow (Class of 2012) for the Field Services Office, Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support at the CDC. Angela has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a Minor in African-American Studies from Georgia State University and a Master of Public Health from Morehouse School of Medicine.
Angela has experience with capacity building with non-profit and community based organizations working in the areas of sexual and reproductive health education and advocacy. She has worked with agencies on projects focusing on HIV/AIDS, Cervical Cancer, and general reproductive health for women, adolescents and immigrant populations.
We are excited to welcome Angela to our team for the next two years!
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