Why Does Congress Hate Women?

(Note: Icky personal ahead, but bear with me for the point…)

Over the past sixteen years I’ve been very vocal on the subject of insurance and contraceptives — mostly I’ve been a walking billboard for proponents fighting to force insuance companies to cover contraceptives as part of universal basic coverage.

Why? Didn’t I just confess to the blog world the other day that I am the world’s oldest living virgin?

The fact is that not every woman uses contraceptives for birth control. For the past sixteen years I have been fighting a horrible war with my body that men can’t even possibly begin to understand. It is impossible for a man to even begin to understand the changes a woman’s body goes through throughout each month. On top of that, it isn’t the same for everyone. For some women, they are barely inconvenienced but for others, it feels like they are dying a couple of days a month; women with “painful periods” are often described as having the following symptoms: pains in the abdomen, pains in the vagina (imagine if someone repeatedly kicked you in the balls for 3 days), nauseousness, diarrhea, sweating, and fatigue.

Now, imagine all of that, plus you do it for 10 days straight.

But wait, there’s more.

Imagine you get to do it every other 10 days.

That’s right. I have my period for 10 days and then I don’t for 10 days and then I start it all over and I don’t have the inconveniencing kind.

And why am I getting this icky personal?

If you’re still reading, there actually is a point.

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate began considering The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (HIMMAA), introduced by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), which would allow insurance companies to ignore nearly all state laws that require insurance companies coverage for certain treatements or conditions, such as laws that require them to include contraceptives in their prescription plance.

“We need to move forward, not backward in expanding access to quality health care, including birth control,” said Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards. “Congress should work to protect patients, not undermine them.”

This federal legislation would raze hundreds of state laws that ensure patients can get the medical care they need and would

• not allow women to designate their ob/gyns as primary care providers
• not allow women to seek care directly from their ob/gyns, but would force them to be screened by their primary care doctors first
• dismantle coverage for contraception
• dismantle coverage for annual cervical cancer exams
• not allow women to stay with the same doctor throughout a pregnancy, if that doctor was dropped from the insurance provider

For years, many insurance plans covered prescription drugs, but refused to cover birth control pills and other prescription contraceptives for women. In the past decade lawmakers in 23 states have remedied this inequity and enacted contraceptive coverage laws. Under HIMMAA women will lose contraceptive-equity protections currently guaranteed by state law.

“States enacted protective laws to ensure that women receive the quality health care and fair treatment that they deserve,” said Richards. “We can’t allow the health care industry to steamroll over these protections. Congress needs to stand up for women’s health and safety.” [“Planned Parenthood Denounces Harmful Changes in Regulation of Health Insurance; Senate Bill Would Eliminate Health Care Benefits for American Women, Including Coverage for Contraceptives”]

For 16 years, I have had to fight with nitpicky insurance companies who have refused to pay for my contraceptive medication that I required for my medical condition and not so I could go party like the Bush twins. I mean, I’m practically a nun here and all I want to do is live my life as comfortably as possible and I don’t understand why this Senator wants to butt his nose in and take that possibility away from me just as I’m starting to succeed.

I just don’t understand why Congress hates women. Why hurt their chances for good health care?

And why is it that most insurance companies will pay for viagra but not for birth control?

tags: Women's Rights, birth control, contraceptives, Senate, HIMMAA, Mike Enzi

5 comments

1. on March 9, 2006 at 6:24 pm

   Big Dog said:

   Most people have to pay for Viagra out of pocket (unless there has been a recent change). The only people paying for Viagra was Medicare and Medicaid.

   The government should not be forced to provide coverage for things they do not want to. That is what a free market is all about. Birth Control pills are not expensive. If we allow government any more say in this then we will be paying even higher premiums because people will want coverage for their obesity medication, their vitamins and God knows what else.

   Most plans with which I am familiar all cover BCP. It is not right to force them to do so. What would you have them do to plans that are provided by religious based organizations? I used to work for a company that fell under a Catholic run hospital. Their plan would not allow abortions or birth control. Should the law force them to provide those things?

   How about if employers just said we are not providing health care coverage? It is getting to the point where people want everything covered. Maybe if deductables were really high like car insurance people would be reluctant to demand everything.

   Now, having said that, most places allow for medical necessity. It might mean you pay a higher co-pay or premium for out of network, but with the proper documentation it can usually be accomplished.

2. on March 9, 2006 at 8:53 pm

   n. mallory said:

   Well, having worked in health care for nearly 10 years, I can tell you that you’re wrong. Most insurance companies do in fact cover viagra and most insurance companies do not in fact cover birth control, even for medical necessity such as mine. AND birth control medication is not always “cheap”.

   I remember a doctor once telling me that it was just horrible that the insurance companies were covering viagra to all these “old” men who were going out and getting young girls pregnant who didn’t have BCP because that same insuance company wouldn’t give it to them. Talk about inequality.

   The sad part is that if they provided for BCP, it would probably cut down on future medical bills for pregnancies.

3. on March 9, 2006 at 9:06 pm

   Big Dog said:

   I probably forgot to mention that I am in the health care field. I am a registered nurse and retired as the First Sergeant of an Air medevac company. I remember when Viagra came out it was out of pocket. I also do not know a woman (and I know many) who have to pay for their own. Most good insurance covers BCP.

   I will admit that I have not worked in a facility in a while. My specialties are emergency medicine and occupational health. I am an expert in chemcial and biological warfare agents and am involved in the medical surveillance of the people who are getting rid of the stuff.

   All I can say is that they must have been crappy insurance and the free clinic gives birth control away. It is the easiest stuff to get. I could probably get a case of condoms if I tried. The health department gives Depo.

4. on March 9, 2006 at 9:35 pm

   n. mallory said:

   As I was driving home, I realized that I probably should have qualified my response better. I don’t believe in “free tickets”. Even when I was so broke I was digging through the sofa for change to get a happy meal, my dad was forcing me to write a check every month for damned good health insurance.

   I do think that if I’m dishing out good money for health insurance, women’s health should be covered. I have no problem paying a co-pay to get my Depo, which I do now — in Louisiana, I had to pay full price plus I had to find or pay someone to inject it as I don’t do needles. Depo is the only med that works for me now unfortunately and when I was unemployed I couldn’t afford it at all.

   The fact is that women’s health shouldn’t be treated with such disregard. Work it into the cost, spread the wealth so to speak.

   (And don’t you find that most health care organizations offer the crappiest of heath care insurance? The best insurance I had was when I was working with a consulting firm for 6 months strangely enough…Unfortunately they don’t let individuals subscribe or whatever.)

5. on March 9, 2006 at 10:50 pm

   Big Dog said:

   The simple truth is that no one’s health should be treated with disregard but in a free market companies should not be forced to carry what they do not want.

   I understand the issues. I have seen it for years and I could tell you stories that have increased the cynic in me.

   I have a pretty good company (my wife does, I am on her insurance because I refuse to pay for 2 policies). They cover most things and I pay for the rest. But you are right, only problem is you have to spend quite a bit.

   Tax dollars pay for the meds at the clinic. If you ever had to get it there you would be getting back some of what you paid in.

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