Posts Tagged: ACA
Health Care Reform: Moving onto the Next Barriers to Care
The Affordable Care Act is law of the land and that’s a good thing. More people who previously weren’t able to access health care due to financial restraints will now have an easier time doing so. Issues like lack of insurance and under insurance will be alleviated through implementation of The Affordable Care Act. We’ve come a long way baby, that is why I will Debbie Downer all over the celebration party by reminding us of how far we still have to go. Removing financial barriers to health care is a HUGE step to eliminating health disparities. Now we can begin to tackle the non financial barriers that impede access to care and sustains disparities. Some of the egregious, in no particular order: Plan B Plan B (emergency contraception) no… Read more »
On Privacy and Reproductive Health: California’s Confidential Health Information Act
Elizabeth McElvein is a member of the Choice USA chapter at Scripps College The federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires health plans and insurers to offer coverage to dependent children up to age 26. While the expansion of health care coverage is a momentous step forward, the ACA leaves matters of patient privacy relatively ambiguous; consequently, it is up to state lawmakers to mediate the conflict between maintaining appropriate health plan and insurer communication and protecting patient confidentiality. This tension is of concrete significance to women and young people for whom patient confidentiality translates into freedom to pursue sexual and reproductive health care services. Imagine a high school senior sitting by herself in a doctor’s waiting room. She contemplates telling her doctor that she is sexually active and dreads the… Read more »
Even at the Catholic University of America, We Need Birth Control
By Callie Otto, Catholic University Students for Choice co-founder & Choice USA intern As a reproductive justice advocate at one of the most conservative colleges in the country (that is The Catholic University of America) the last few years have been nothing short of challenging. Figuring out how to get around the no condoms policy, being slut-shamed by a doctor at my campus health center, getting my favorite professor in deep shit for allowing me to talk about my pro-choice views in class, volunteering as a clinic escort at the same clinic my some of my peers sit and pray outside of — yes, I’d say it has been a challenge. These challenges have made me bitter. Bitter about the fact that I’m consistently denied my right to do or… Read more »
Congressional Fail: What Happened to the Violence Against Women Act
2012 was full of fascinating–and occasionally terrifying–reproductive justice dialogues. Beginning in February when Rush Limbaugh made disparaging comments about Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke’s congressional speech in support of mandated insurance coverage of birth control, it became clear that the “war on women” and reproductive agency was in full swing. Less than a month later, President Obama issued a Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month Proclamation where he asserted that “the prevalence of sexual assault remains an affront to our national conscience that we cannot ignore.” As the presidential election approached, Republican candidate Mitt Romney stated that Roe v. Wade–the case which legalized abortion–should be overturned. He also voiced a similar stance on the Affordable Care Act. After the election in November, things seemed to be on the up and… Read more »
Putting the Sex Back in Birth Control: Why the Dominant Narrative on Contraception Undermines Young People
Originally posted on RH Reality Check While I applaud Elizabeth Banks for her new ad supporting Planned Parenthood, birth control, and President Barack Obama–and wholeheartedly empathize with her personal story–I’m reminded of a sobering fact: the progressive community is deathly afraid of talking about sex and young people. That’s right. I said it. Between Banks new web promo aimed at female voters, Sandra Fluke’s testimony before Congress last February, and the reactive messaging around Rush Limbaugh’s vile comments, one thing has remained clear: our movement is far more comfortable elevating stories about birth control when they don’t involve sex. Pure unadulterated sex. Sex without the fear of an unintended pregnancy. You know… the primary reason young Americans use birth control. And for arguments sake, maybe there’s a good reason for this. Maybe–just maaaayyyybe–we’re trying to appeal… Read more »
One Less Tough Decision: What Birth Control Without Co-Pays Means for College Women
Being pro-choice means trusting women to make their own decisions about their reproductive healthcare. But there are some reproductive healthcare decisions I don’t think women should have to make. I don’t think a woman should have to decide whether to keep taking a birth control pill that gives her terrible side effects, because it’s the only brand whose copay she can afford. I don’t think a woman should have to decide whether to enroll in a birth control study and rely on a pill that isn’t on the market yet, not because the compensation is great, but because it’s the only way to get contraception for free. I don’t think a woman who lives with Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder should have to choose whether to suffer every month because the pill that gives… Read more »
