Report card on women’s health, 2007

The grades: S=Satisfactory, U=Unsatisfactory, F=Fail

Source: “Making the Grade on Women’s Health”

The United States overall gets a big “Unsatisfactory” grade when it comes to women’s health care, according to the National Women’s Law Center and the Oregon Health & Science University.

“Making the Grade on Women’s Health: A National and State-by-State Report Card” is the organizations’ annual report that assesses the overall health of women at state and national levels. No state received an overall “Satisfactory” grade.

The 2007 report card has two major findings: 1) States are falling increasingly behind in reaching national goals for women’s health, and 2) Significant improvements need to be made in order to have any chance of reaching health objectives by 2010. These health objectives have been put forth by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’s) “Healthy People 2010.”

The report card measures 27 benchmarks that indicate women’s access to health care services, the degree to which they receive preventive health care and engage in health-promoting activities, the occurrence of certain women’s health conditions, and the extent to which the communities promote health and well-being. See the full report on the National Women’s Law Center Web site.

Missing benchmarks

The nation is failing to meet 12 of the 27 benchmarks, up from nine in the 2004 Report Card. Other notable benchmark news:

• The most improved indicators were stroke and coronary heart disease death rates, but the country still receives an overall F grade in these.
• All states declined in obesity status.
• The most improved policies among states were coverage of smoking cessation services in Medicaid and increases in the minimum wage.
• The most declined policies among states were co-payments on prescription dugs covered by Medicaid and requiring waiting periods for women who need an abortion.
• Only two policy goals were met by all states: Medicaid coverage for breast and cervical cancer treatment and participation in the Food Stamp Nutrition and Education Program.

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Penny Gusner

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Penny is an expert on insurance procedures, rates, policies and claims. She has extensive knowledge of all major insurance lines -- auto, homeowners, life and health insurance. She has been answering consumers’ questions as an analyst for more than 15 years and has been featured in numerous major media outlets, including the Washington Post and Kiplinger’s.