Do women's political caucuses make a difference in the passage of women's health policies?

This study explores the impact of women's state legislative caucuses on the passage of women's health policies, controlling for political and socioeconomic factors that traditionally have been influential in enactment of state policies. Regression analysis is used to test this hypothesis. The units of analysis are the states. In this study, the dependent variable is a Women's Health Policy Index, an index of eight health policy issues addressing women's health concerns that have been adopted in various states, from 1993 through 2002. These policies include Medicaid family planning waivers, state mandates for private insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives, direct access to obstetricians, use of obstetricians as primary care providers, breast cancer and cervical cancer screenings, mandated length of stay after mastectomy, and reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy. The independent variables are the presence or absence of women's state legislative caucuses, percent of women state legislators, percent of women who are Democrats, and state political and socioeconomic characteristics. This study expands previous studies by this author that explored the impact of women state legislators on women's health policies, by including women's caucuses, as the key variable contributing to the passage of women's health policies. Preliminary results indicate that presence of women's caucuses is important in the enactment of women's health policies. This study will contribute to the literature on women's influence on health policy development and the impact of women's support groups in the state legislatures on the passage of women's health policies.