Gender based disparity is not new to Amercian healthcare, nor the world. The lives of men have been more valuable than women’s lives for centuries in some cultures. Just as racism is not en vogue in this modern society, and must be disguised, sexism cannot be openly expressed. Some laws, such as the Bo-Tax legislation, have sexist ideas embedded into them. Beauty and youthfulness for women are emphasized by the world. Eventhough men have elective procedures, women will be taxed for electing to enhace their looks. As a women’s advocate I hear many women complain that they must die their hair and take heroic measures to remain youthful, in order to remain employed in certain fields. (Some people in the computer industry, for example, boast that they are in a youthful profession.) A loss of employment means a loss of healthcare benefits for many people. Women are a target!

Apparently, not even the majority of Catholics support their political involvement or position. Here are some quotes from “Catholics For Choice” “The antichoice lobby with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and its Office of Prolife Advocates has shown that it is willing to stop at nothing to ensure that it own views, which are shared by very few Americans, hold sway. And they continue” this is the only the first salvo in the bishop’s campaign against women’s health. There will be absolutely no access to abortion—even in cases of rape and incest which 76% of Catholics support, eventually no IVF, no contraception, or treatment for ectopic pregnancies or medical anomalies during pregnancy. There will be nothing that doesn’t meet the litmus test prescribed by a small group of men”

Additionally 68% of Catholics disapprove of US Bishops saying that all Catholics should oppose the entire healthcare reform plan if it includes coverage for abortion, 56% don’t think the Bishops should take any position on healthcare reform legislation in Congress. And more, according to Catholics for Choice “there are 65 million American Catholics and their voice should not be represented by a few Bishops. I recommend readers to go on the website of Catholic for Choice for additional information.

Where is the outrage!?

And by the way – the USPSTF is an advisory body that doesn’t dictate federal policy. Insurers don’t have to follow the USPSTF – in fact – they can deny anything they want – based on the coverage they sell (and you get through your employer on a take it or leave it basis.) So if they deny your care, you have no real resource. Welcome to the the market.(That’s why some refer to insurance companies as the ultimate death panels-.) So do you really prefer that construct to a government that is likely to listen to constitutents – particulaly those who vote – because they are accountable to them and not to their shareholders? “

Jeanne – a welcome sigh to read your comment and the article you cited – thank you for citing it.

“We have been sold the idea that screening=prevention. They are not the same.”

ah -but insurances pay for what they are calling prevention aka screening – while true primary care – aka prevention- is not reimbursed – and the consequesnces of over screening and over treatment are rarely addressed.
We have moved far away from promoting health much less asking a population to take personal responsibility for their health.

There are too many screenings, though… If it was up to medical equipment manufacturers, we’d have a mammogram every week. If you have risk factors, insurance should pay. Otherwise, follow the recommendations or pay for yourself. As for taxes, I don’t understand why we’re not taxing the companies that make Americans obese (eg, soda manufacturers) and add to the ballooning cost of health care.

More access to more health care is not the end goal, is it? Shouldn’t it be more access to better health? And the fact is that more pap smears and more mammograms that don’t improve outcomes actually probably decrease our overall health. We have been sold the idea that screening=prevention. They are not the same.

Try this: NYT Op-ed:Aronowitz: Addicted to Mammograms

http://tinyurl.com/yebhzfg

(It found prostate cancer to be the second leading cause of cancer death in men.)

The problem with government-run insurance, when it becomes a monopoly or nearly so, is that decisions will be bureaucratic and have no relation to any market process.

Things may work out as you wish on the breast cancer front, but should they do so, it will be “the exception that proves the rule” — the rule will be that diseases with emotion and public sentiment behind them (or very well organized and vocal providers) are going to be favored, but others — well, not so much. Not the sort of health system I dream of.