Health Care Reform Priorities
The following document was created in response to the release of the Senate Finance Committee’s Chairman’s mark. It outlines The National Campaign’s top policy priorities in health reform.
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Health Care Reform Priorities
Support for the Mikulski Amendment
The following one-pager outlines an amendment offered by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) that would create cost-sharing protections for women’s health preventive services. The document also addresses why this amendment is critical for Congress to maintain as it continues its efforts on health reform.
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Support for the Mikulski Amendment
Thank you letter to Sen. Stabenow
National Campaign CEO Sarah Brown wrote a letter to Senator Stabenow commending her for her leadership on including an amendment to create a new Medicaid Family Planning State Plan Option in the Senate Finance Committee’s health reform bill. The amendment would allow states to expand eligibility for family planning services under Medicaid up to its level for pregnancy-related care. Download the letter
Fast Facts: Existing Family Planning Coverage in Public and Private Insurance Systems
As lawmakers advance health reform, it is necessary to ensure that affordability is not achieved at the expense of quality. One key marker of achieving this balance will be providing coverage for at least the benefits already in most typical health insurance plans. Family planning services are widely used and widely supported and are also covered by most public and private insurance plans or systems. In fact, family planning services are a core element of several public programs. The following fact sheet highlights existing coverage of family planning services and supplies in the public and private insurance plans.
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National Campaign Comments on Finance Coverage Options
In response to the Senate Finance Committee’s request for comment on its proposal, Expanding Health Care Coverage: Proposals to Provide Affordable Coverage to All Americans, The National Campaign submitted the following to ensure that opportunities for promoting pregnancy planning and prevention are fully integrated into the Committee’s health reform efforts.
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Briefly - Policy Brief: Health Care Reform
Given the health, economic, and social consequences of unplanned pregnancy for taxpayers and families, policymakers should consider a number of specific policy areas where there are opportunities to improve pregnancy planning and prevention within the context of health
care reform efforts. This brief discusses a few of those opportunities.
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Briefly: Strengthening America’s Family Planning Safety Net in the Context of Health Reform
Reducing the stubbornly high levels of
unplanned pregnancy in the U.S. will require
both personal responsibility on the part of individuals as well as responsible policies that
give women and men the information and
services they need to plan pregnancy. This brief explores such ideas in greater detail.
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Fast Facts: The Direct Medical Costs of Unplanned Pregnancy and Cost Effectiveness
of Preventing Unplanned Pregnancy
In addition to being associated with serious consequences for parents and their children, unplanned pregnancies also lead
to substantial direct medical costs due to the births, abortions,
and miscarriages that result from these pregnancies. This fact
sheet summarizes available information about these direct
medical costs.
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Fast Facts: The Direct Medical Costs of Unplanned Pregnancy and Cost Effectiveness
of Preventing Unplanned Pregnancy
Fast Facts: Making the Case for Family Planning Coverage in Health Reform
Congress has a long history of recognizing the value of family planning services by including it as a core part of its public programs. In addition to improving health outcomes, this preventive benefit is both affordable and cost-effective for consumers, employers, and the government alike. This fact sheet summarizes the government’s long-standing commitment to this set of services and the cost-benefit of family planning coverage.
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Fast Facts: Making the Case for Family Planning Coverage in Health Reform
Health Reform Recommendations
Recognizing that health reform will be a top priority for the new Administration and given the health and economic benefits of pregnancy planning and prevention, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy offers a number of recommendations for improving pregnancy prevention and planning within the context of health reform efforts.
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Teen & Unplanned Pregnancy: Why It Matters
Teen pregnancy is closely linked to a host of other critical social issues — poverty and income, overall child well-being, out-of-wedlock births, responsible fatherhood, health issues, education, child welfare, and other risky behavior. There are also substantial public costs associated with adolescent childbearing. Consequently, teen pregnancy should be viewed not only as a reproductive health issue, but as one that works to improve all of these measures. Simply put, if more children in this country were born to parents who are ready and able to care for them, we would see a significant reduction in a host of social problems afflicting children in the United States, from school failure and crime to child abuse and neglect.
Visit the Why It Matters webpage