PRCH in the Press

September 14, 2009
PRCH board member Willie Parker, MD, MPH, writes about his patients who don't have health insurance and argues that we need reform, especially women.

As an obstetrician-gynecologist, I spent years learning how to keep women healthy. Too often, I find myself telling patients with easily treatable conditions that I can't help them—they don't have the money to get well. Denying women care and watching them suffer rips me apart. That's why I've become an ardent advocate for health care reform.

I am not talking about withholding the latest, cutting-edge, exorbitantly priced medications or treatments. No—I've had patients whose health insurance doesn't cover such basic health needs as Pap smears and birth control prescriptions. And forget about having a baby—many insurance policies don't cover prenatal care or labor and delivery, or they treat pregnancy as a pre-existing condition.

Do you agree that health care reform should include reproductive health? Tell your senators.