HEALTH CARE REFORM
We need high quality, comprehensive, affordable, accessible health care for everyone in Maryland.
Universal coverage will result in a healthier, more productive community, and expanding access to health care will reduce costs for individuals, employers and health care providers. Without insurance, patients can incur life-changing medical debt. Without access to health care, they don’t seek preventive care that might detect disease in its early phases, when treatment could be both more effective and far less expensive. Health care for the uninsured is often more fragmented, preventing reliable diagnosis and follow-up. The uninsured are more likely to use expensive emergency care, and hospitals, clinics, and other providers suffer the financial burden of unreimbursed care.
Increased coverage should include the right to prescription drug coverage and the right to select one’s own doctors, with financial assistance for seniors and others who need it. True health care reform means more than universal insurance coverage. Our current health care system focuses on treating disease and disability while paying for specialized care, high-tech tests, and hospital stays. We must also strive to maintain good health and prevent illness, saving both dollars and lives and increasing our quality of life.
Services that maintain and promote women’s health need special attention as we work for improvement in our health care system.
Women are often caregivers and gatekeepers for the health of their families. Increasingly, they are part of the “sandwich generation”, taking on the added stress of caring for their children and their parents at the same time.
Regular primary care visits provide one of the most important assessments of health status, are cost-effective, maintain good health, and prevent acute illness, chronic disease, and disability. Access to the full range of maternity care services will produce better outcomes for both mother and child, reducing the incidence of low birth weight babies and neonatal mortality.
Reproductive health services are integral to the health and well-being of women from adolescence to old age. Contraceptive services and abortion must be available to protect women’s health and well-being and to reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted infection. Increased access to contraception will reduce the medical risk from unplanned pregnancies as well as the need for abortion, tempering the social and emotional costs of both for women, families, and our community.
A continuum of health-related services is essential as our population ages. Medical and prescription drug services, home health care, nutrition services, and social support services should be increasingly available in a variety of settings. The majority of women over age 85 live either in nursing homes or, if at home, with assistance. Much of that assistance comes now from family and friends, most often from women who are not paid for their services and often struggle themselves to preserve their own physical, financial, and emotional health.
Long-term care services should include visiting nurses and home health aides, physical and occupational therapy, and hospice care. Social support services, such as homemaker services, social worker visits, respite care, and other caregiver support should be available so that families are able to provide care for older members who want to remain at home. In addition to improving quality of life for our seniors, prolonging independent living is more cost-effective than nursing home care.