Recession Hurts Women’s Health
By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
With the stock market at record lows and unemployment soaring ever skyward, the economy is also having a negative impact on women's health. This, according to a new study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Forty percent of women surveyed say their health worsened in the past year, with many disregarding follow-up doctor visits and all manner of healthcare in order to save money. Since women are usually in charge of healthcare for the whole household, this neglect could impact the entire family.
Nearly half of women (45%) have failed to seek medical care in the past year because the cost was too high. This includes skipping doctor's visits, recommended medical procedures and medication for themselves or their families.
Hispanic women were most likely to have skipped health care in the past year (58%) versus white (43%) or African American (42%) women.
In addition, more than 40% of women report their health has declined over the past five years and the most common reasons given for this were stress and weight gain.
No wonder women are so stressed. We read about Wall Street titans losing jobs by the tens of thousands. But we hear very little about minimum wage workers, some two thirds of whom are women:
60.9 percent of workers earning between $5.15 and $7.00 per hour are women.
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Tags: healthcare | recession | women's health
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Reader Comments
typical swill
can anybody explain to me and a few million others WHY you think that YOUR healthcare should be subsidized by others that somehow DO manage to get their kids born,immunized,etc all on a salary of less than 40Gs ? UNINSURED.
where are the priorities and basic mentality to save a little each week to PAY for"services" ? How do they PAY for anything ?
rent,food,utilities ?
Millions are without health INSURANCE,have families,pay bills and have been for generations.
WHO started this bS that everyone IS to be insured at any means and on my dime as well ?
The taxpayers didn't pay one cent for my children,right down to their education as well.
Too bad oboMba simply didn't promise a hospital bed and prescription pad in every home.
would settle this garbage once and for all.
Was truly laughable watching his infomercial,all these "poor' folKK with gold,nail jobs,dye jobs,etc pissing and moaning THEY can't afford 50bucks for a doctor's visit or pay their bills.
Don't take R.L. Schaefer personally, Bonnie.
He is just here to spout off and push Catholicism.
Meanwhile, you're right about the economy causing everyone (women especially) to skimp on primary health care. We need a surge of less-trained primary doctors (who don't HAVE to make $250,000 a year to pay off their student debt) to actually see the patients for a charge of less than two weeks' salary for the 9-minute visit.
This is as important a goal for Obama as infrastructure.
Women are often the centre of families
Women often stand at the centre of the family unit, their health is not more important then the man's or any other part of the family; but they often neglect their own health for the sake of the family. I think that's what this columnist is getting at.
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