Opinion Piece Praises Sen. Begich's Support Of Women's Preventive Care Amendment

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Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) deserves "[k]udos" for supporting Sen. Barbara Mikulski's (D-Md.) amendment to improve women's access to preventive care under the Senate health reform bill (HR 3590), Robin Smith, board member of Planned Parenthood of Alaska, writes in an Anchorage Daily News opinion piece. Smith notes that Begich opposed an amendment by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that did "not go far enough" to ensure access to "vital screenings" and included "language that forbids abortion to ever be called 'preventive.'"

Begich saw the Murkowski amendment "for what it was -- another attempt to divert attention away from the issue at hand by using the 'A' word," Smith says. She adds, "Murkowski, and anyone else who really thinks about it, knows full well that an abortion can never be defined as 'preventive' care." According to Smith, Mikulski's amendment "was exclusively about screening for the early detection of disease unique to women's health." She adds, "If the goal of health care reform is to provide the best care possible for our citizens at the lowest possible cost, the emphasis must be on preventive care."

Smith continues, "We can't afford a system where people put off care, thereby creating the need for much costlier procedures down a very short road. This means ensuring a full range of prevention services for women." She explains, "Women of childbearing age spend 68% more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men," adding, "Another disturbing fact is that more than half of women delay or avoid preventive care because of cost." Smith concludes, "Kudos to Sen. Begich for understanding that being female is not a pre-existing condition" (Smith, Anchorage Daily News, 12/18).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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