Oral

Women have much at stake in health care reform debates. The current U.S. health care system fails to provide access to needed care for many women and for the family members whose care they often coordinate. Barriers involve coverage eligibility and limitations, cost, health care disparities, family dynamics and the willingness of health care institutions and individual health professionals to provide requested services. They affect both insured and uninsured women. Addressing the barriers that women face will build support for progressive health care reform solutions. The Raising Women's Voices for the Health Care We Need (RWV) initiative is working to make sure women's health advocates are fully engaged in efforts to make health care reform a top priority at national, state and local levels. RWV advocates are fighting insurance company practices of refusing to sell policies, or charging more, to women with pre-existing medical conditions, like breast cancer, diabetes, asthma, pregnancy or having had a cesarean section delivery. They are insisting that health reform address the persistent problem of health disparities that give second-class healthcare to women of color, women with disabilities, low-income women, young women, immigrant women and women in the LGBT community. And they are demanding that health reform make coverage affordable for women and families by addressing the increasing cost of health coverage through the existing insurance system. RWV has developed principles that define a women's vision of health care. Reform that is guided by these principles will create a health system that ensures our collective health.

Session Objectives: Participants will be able to discuss the health care reform debates. Participants will be able to describe the barriers women face in the current US health care system