Getting the word out to women and families

Raise your hand if you understand what the new health reform law means for you and your family!

Don't feel embarrassed if you didn't raise your hand. You have a lot of company.

That's why Raising Women's Voices is embarking on a series of community education sessions about the new health reform law. We are bringing groups of experts into the community to meet with women, who often are the key health decision-makers for their families. Our aims are to explain the many ways in which health reform will help families -- such as providing coverage for 32 million uninsured Americans -- and to note the ways in which the law fell short, such as in covering abortion services and including undocumented immigrants.

Want a session in your community? If you would like RWV or our regional coordinators to provide such a session in your community, please email us at info[at]raisingwomensvoices.net

Paula MayoWhere could we hold such a session? Our first session was held on Tuesday, March 23, at the InterChurch Center in New York's Morningside Heights neighborhood. This building is home to one of RWV's founding groups, the MergerWatch Project, and also to many faith-based organizations. Paula Mayo, President of the InterChurch Center, invited Raising Women's Voices to conduct the two-hour session as part of the center's celebration of Women's History Month. Rev. Donna Schaper, senior minister of the pro-choice Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, gave the opening prayer. Local churches or community centers could sponsor similar events for their congregations or members.

What will you and your neighbors learn in such a session? Eesha Pandit and Lois Uttley from RWV went over a list of the things women and families will gain immediately (this year) and those benefits we will see once the law is fully implemented in 2014.

Examples of the short-term benefits include a ban on insurance companies denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions; a requirement that insurance companies provide a package of women's preventive care and health screenings (such as Pap smears and mammograms) without charging co-pays; a $250 rebate for Medicare enrollees if they fall into the prescription drug plan's "donut hole" and have unreimbursed drug expenses; and the ability of families to keep adult children on family health insurance policies until their 26th birthdays. You can read more about these immediate benefits here.

Once the law is fully implemented in 2014, 16 million more Americans will be eligible for Medicaid coverage and another 16 million will be able to purchase affordable coverage through new insurance "exchanges" or marketplaces, with the assistance of federal subsidies. Read more here.

Dr. Manisha SharmaDr. Manisha Sharma, who is active in the New York chapter of the National Physicians Alliance, stressed one of the other important aspects of the law that will go into effect in 2014. No insurance company will be able to deny anyone (adult or child) insurance coverage because they have a pre-existing condition, such as breast cancer or ovarian cancer. Dr. Sharma spoke from personal experience, having suffered a terrible auto accident as a young woman that left her with lasting pre-existing conditions. Because of that experience, she said, "health care has been a big passion of mine." She said that while the new health reform law is not perfect, "it's a big step in the right direction," and noted that when Medicare was first enacted in the 1960s, it was a much more modest program than it is now.

Dr. Janet TaylorDr. Janet Taylor, a psychiatrist who works in Harlem, explained the benefits of health reform for people with mental illness, such as depression. Until now, such conditions have sometimes been counted as "pre-existing conditions" and disqualified people from getting health insurance. "Even having a family member with a mental illness could cause people to lose their policies," she said. Under the new law, such disqualifications will be prohibited, and we will be able to get the mental health services we need.

Dr. Wendy ChavkinDr. Wendy Chavkin, a professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, stressed that in addition to the benefits to individual people from the law, there will also be community-wide benefits. For example, the availability of smoking cessation programs will help reduce the amount of second-hand smoke that non-smokers experience everyday. Community health centers will receive more than $11 billion in new funds to serve those in our communities who still don't have health insurance, such as undocumented immigrants. This kind of primary care will help prevent the spread of infectious diseases, including sexually-transmitted diseases.

Verónica Bayetti FloresVerónica Bayetti Flores from the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, which has an office in Manhattan, explained some of the losses in the new legislation. For example, undocumented immigrants are ineligible for Medicaid or federal subsidies, and are even prohibited from using their own money to buy health insurance through the new insurance exchanges. She also explained that harsh restrictions on the use of federal funding for abortion services will mean that the millions of women newly eligible for Medicaid coverage -- including many low-income Latinas -- will not be able to use their coverage for abortion services, except in cases of rape, incest or life endangerment, or if they live in states (like NY) that use state-only Medicaid dollars to provide these services. Read more about the pros and cons for reproductive health in the new law here.

The event concluded with an extensive question-and-answer period in which participants could find out about specific aspects of the new law that concerned them.

Want a session in your community? If you would like RWV or our regional coordinators to provide such a session in your community, please email us at info[at]raisingwomensvoices.net