50-State Study on Women’s Health Finds
Small Gains, Key Setbacks
While states are making
some progress in improving health care for women, they are
taking a two-steps-forward-one-step-back approach that fails
to meet the health care needs of women. That is the conclusion
of the 2004 edition of Making the Grade on Women’s Health: a National and State-by-State Report
Card, a comprehensive study on the status of women’s
health and health policies released by the National Women’s
Law Center (NWLC) and the Oregon Health & Science University
(OHSU).
The report ranks each
state based on 27 health status benchmarks and gives the
nation a grade of “Unsatisfactory” for
meeting only two benchmarks—the percentage of women receiving
regular mammograms and the number of dental visits. No state
receives a “Satisfactory” grade for women’s
health status. Minnesota ranks first overall followed by Massachusetts,
Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Colorado, Utah,
Maine and Washington. Six states receive failing grades. The
states ranking the lowest were: Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas,
West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Texas.
In addition to grading
and ranking each state, Making the Grade evaluates whether
states have adopted key women’s health policies. Only Medicaid coverage for breast
and cervical cancer was met by all the states—up from
40 in 2001. Three states, New York, California and Rhode Island,
met a majority of the policy goals (over 35). Idaho, South
Dakota and Mississippi met the fewest policy goals. Preventing
tobacco sales to minors was the most consistently improved
policy with 18 states now meeting the policy goal as compared
to only 5 in the 2001 Report Card.
“State policy makers’ piecemeal approach
to our health care crisis has resulted in a complex and ineffective
system that fails to meet the health care needs of women,” said
Judy Waxman, NWLC Vice President for Health.
“The
outlook for women’s health is grim and nowhere near approaching
the nation’s goals for 2010 set by the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services Health People initiative,” said
Dr. Michelle Berlin, Associate Professor at the Oregon Health & Science
University. “Failing to meet these goals undermines not
only the health and well-being of women, but the well-being
of our country as well.”
The National Women’s Law Center is a non-profit
organization that has been working since 1972 to advance and
protect women’s legal rights. NWLC focuses on major policy
areas of importance to women and their families including health,
education, employment, and economic security, with special
attention given to the concerns of low-income women.#
Reprinted by permission
of the National Women’s
Law Center and OHSU.
