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Talking Points: Health Care and Women

The health crisis is of critical importance to AFSCME women. At 56% of the membership, women are the majority of AFSCME members and dominate in the sectors most impacted by the health care crisis.

Overall, women are bearing the brunt of the health care crisis.

Women benefit from joining unions. They earn 31% more in wages than non-union women, and win with better benefits and greater access to health insurance. However, the health care crisis is cutting into these gains. Many women are forced to spend hard-earned pay raises on rising health care costs for themselves or their families. 

• Women are the face of the uninsured. Over 17 million women do not have health insurance. Union women, such as child care providers and home health care workers, are among the uninsured.
• Women are less likely than men to have job-based health insurance. Employer-provided insurance is greatest source of health insurance coverage in America. Yet, fewer women than men have this type of coverage because women are often employed part-time, work in low wage jobs that don’t offer insurance, and have lower incomes and can’t afford the co-pays and premiums. While union women have stronger access to health insurance than non-union women, cost shifting by employers are leaving many union women under-insured and struggling to pay for the high cost of care.
• At greater risk for losing health insurance. Women are more vulnerable to becoming uninsured because they are often covered as dependants under a spouse’s plan. Divorce, death of a spouse, spouse’s job loss, or the loss family coverage can cause women to lose coverage. With employer’s cutting or eliminating family benefits, even union women are at risk for having to pay more to care for their family members or having to get insurance for themselves if their spouse’s family coverage is suddenly eliminated.
• Rising costs make it difficult for union women to afford even basic care.  Women, particularly during their reproductive years, make more health care visits than men.  Many women forgo critical treatments, such as mammograms, gynecological care and cancer screenings because of costs. In the past year, 24% of insured women delayed or went without care.
• Prescription medicine is critical to women’s health. Women are more likely than men to require prescriptions on a regular basis. However, the unaffordability of their medicines is a huge barrier for their health.  A recent study finds that most women pay nearly $99 a month in out-of-pocket expenses for prescription medicines.  Because of skyrocketing costs, many women do not fill prescriptions, skip doses or split medicines, which puts their health in danger.
• Access to health care is critical to women’s economic and health security for themselves and their families. Women are the health care leaders in their families. They oversee the routine health care decisions for their children and care for sick family members and aging relatives. Barriers to a woman’s coverage affect her entire family.

Supporting federally-funded programs helps women.

• Many union women are health care workers. Cuts in federal funding for health care programs, such a funding for hospitals, home health care services, and physical therapy, gravely impact union women’s jobs. Medicaid is the top source of federal funds to states.  Because many union women are employed as healthcare workers, program funding is critical to their job and economic security.  Yet, in the past year the Administration has cut $10 billion from the Medicaid program – forcing states to make hard choices to compensate for the financial shortfall, such as reducing staffing and eliminating service-provider jobs.
• Medicaid cuts impact women the most. Women are 71% of all adult Medicaid beneficiaries. For nearly 19 million women, Medicaid provides coverage for preventive care, pregnancy care, child birth, and breast and cervical cancer treatments. And, two-thirds of all Medicaid beneficiaries are in working families.
• Medicare keeps older women out of poverty. Elderly women are the majority of Medicare recipients as well. Because women live longer and are less likely to receive employer-sponsored health benefits in retirement, Medicare is a critical to protecting elderly women’s health and economic security. Cuts to these programs have a lasting toll on women’s health.
  

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