Women hit hard as companies shift health costs to employees

This month, Mercer, a leading benefit consulting firm, announced that many businesses will limit their premium increases next year by shifting even more costs to employees and their families.

Nearly half of employers plan to change employee premium requirements and even more — 59 percent to be exact — plan to raise deductibles, copayments and out-of-pocket spending limits next year

That is bad news for all working families — already struggling in today’s economy — but it is particularly serious for women. Women still receive, on average, only 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man. In 2007, the median income earnings for women was $35,100 — $10,000 less than the median income for men. As a result, women are disproportionately affected by higher medical costs that eat up more of their wages. And, since women already pay 68 percent more than men for out-of-pocket healthcare costs, higher cost-sharing will add to an already serious financial burden and leave less disposable income for all other expenses.

Women are in the unenviable position of needing more healthcare but have fewer financial resources to pay for medical care. The National Women’s Law Center report, “Women and Health Coverage: The Affordability Gap,” found that women are more likely to have a chronic health condition, more likely to take prescription drugs on a regular basis, and more likely to seek regular care.

But, because of higher costs, they are also more likely to not see a doctor when they have a health problem, receive follow-up care or fill a prescription.

Nearly 1 in 5 women in the United States is uninsured and at risk of being one of the 22,000 Americans who dies every year because she lacks coverage. The crisis of being uninsured is even worse for women of color, women living in poverty, and low-wage working women.

Uninsured women are three times less likely to have had a Pap test in the last three years and have a 60 percent greater risk of late-stage cervical cancer. Uninsured women with breast cancer are 30 to 50 percent more likely to die from the disease. And 13 percent of all pregnant women are uninsured, making them less likely to seek timely prenatal care and 31 percent more likely to have an adverse health outcome.

But increasingly, the difference between being insured and uninsured is blurring – particularly for women. The Commonwealth Fund recently documented the financial burden of high healthcare costs in “Seeing Red: The Growing Burden of Medical Bills and Debt Faced by U.S. Families.”

Their finding: Forty percent of working Americans — 72 million people — had medical debt or serious problems paying their bills last year; 28 million used up all their savings; 21 million incurred large credit card debt; and another 21 million were unable to pay for basic necessities.  One in four women is unable to pay medical bills.

Women are financially and medically vulnerable for many reasons. They are more likely to obtain coverage through their spouse — putting them at risk in the case of divorce or death of a husband, their husband’s employer cutting dependent coverage, or an older husband moving from job-based coverage to Medicare (and losing his wife’s coverage at the same time).

Women are more likely to find that the services they need are not covered by their insurers. High-deductible plans are often marketed to young women but fail to cover pregnancy-related care, the most expensive health event most young families face. Breast cancer can be treated as a pre-existing condition — as was the case for one of my constituents who couldn’t afford treatments on her own.

The next Congress must enact comprehensive healthcare reform that is not just about insuring the uninsured — as important as it is to provide coverage to the 46 million Americans who lack it. Handing someone an insurance card isn’t a solution if it doesn’t allow her to get the medical services she needs at a price she can afford.

We need to take a bold, comprehensive approach and, as consumers, caregivers and payers, women’s stake in the outcome of the upcoming healthcare debate couldn’t be higher. That is why Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and I introduced the Health Care for Women, Health Care for All resolution, working with groups like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the National Women’s Law Center, and Planned Parenthood.

We know that comprehensive reform won’t work unless it works well for women in their many roles as healthcare decision-makers, caregivers, healthcare professionals, consumers and payers. We know that reform must:

• Provide a choice of a public plan — so that there is always a guaranteed option available.
• Cover all healthcare benefits essential to good health — including reproductive health, pregnancy-related and infant care — without pre-existing condition exclusions or waiting periods.
• Guarantee affordability so that high premiums, deductibles and cost-sharing do not present barriers to care.
• Ensure continuity of care, choice of providers and a delivery system that meets the needs of women.
• Promote quality and patient safety.
• Eliminate healthcare disparities.

The next Congress must be the Congress that finally enacts the guarantee of affordable, high-quality healthcare for all. The women of America are counting on us.

Schakowsky is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.