Resolution No: 9 and 85 30th International Convention June 15-19, 1992 Las Vegas, NV

WHEREAS:

Women are being ill-served by the current health care establishment.

• Fifteen million women have no health insurance. This is due primarily to the fact that women are more likely than men to be part-time workers and work in low wage, non-unionized service industries where health care benefits often are not offered or are offered at costs which workers cannot afford.

• Many health insurance plans do not cover pap smears, mammograms, and other vital preventive services. About 44,000 women annually die from breast cancer, but only 31 percent of women get regular mammograms.

• Women outlive men on average by seven years. This makes it more likely that women will acquire chronic diseases requiring long term care. Long term care is excluded from most private health insurance plans and is not adequately covered under medicare.

• In the competition for scarce medical research dollars, health issues of special concern to women get short changed. Moreover, women are underrepresented and too frequently absent from clinical trials. For example, the 1988 study which showed the benefits of aspirin in preventing heart disease include 22,071 men and no women. Studies of the effectiveness of treatment modes for alcoholism typically include men only or mostly men.

WHEREAS:

Many recent studies and reports indicate a racial disparity in the United States health care system that puts women of color in a position of having lower participation levels of health care and poorer outcomes from health care.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will continue as an advocate for women's health needs through active participation in and support for the Campaign for Women's Health and other appropriate coalitions and organizations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will advocate for health care legislation that puts people before profits and works to ensure that any proposal supported will meet the needs of women; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will continue and expand its educational effort to AFSCME members on such issues as AIDS, osteoporosis, and breast cancer.

SUBMITTED BY:

Donald G. McKee, President
Dick Palmer, Secretary-Treasurer
AFSCME Council 61
Iowa

Jacquie Jones-Walsh, President
Ruth Skalbania, Recording Secretary
AFSCME Local 843, Council 28
Washington