Let’s face it, healthcare can seem overwhelming. There are so many questions that come to mind, like what aspects of healthcare does the Covered California actually cover? What benefits us?
Covered California is very beneficial, but most people don’t know about the law, or about how affordable health insurance can be, Christina Latner, one of Cal Poly’s Health Insurance Education Project (HIEP) campus coordinators, said.
Women used to be under regulations and restrictions simply because they were women.
“In the past, many health care providers viewed pregnancy as a pre-existing condition, and many women were denied coverage,” Latner said.
According to the National Partnership for Women & Families, other pre-existing conditions or illnesses that fell under this category were breast cancer, having a C-section, receiving medical treatment for domestic violence and chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
Latner said another discriminatory regulation that women were subjected to was paying a higher premium on health care as apposed to men.
As young college females, children and mamograms aren’t at the top of our minds, but it’s good to know that we have better health coverage options now.
Here’s how Covered California can help you:
- Women will not longer be charged higher premiums because they are female. Gender discrimination is now prohibited by federally funded small business and independent health insurance providers.
- Women will no longer be denied coverage for having a pre-existing condition.
- Preventative services such as birth control, mammograms and cervical cancer screenings are guaranteed to women without deductibles or copays.
- Treated unfavorably, abortion can be covered but it depends on the service provider.
- Women’s Health Clinics and family planning providers will continue to help women that depend on their services.
The controversy with this concept is that people feel they shouldn’t pay for coverage that they are never going to need.
“The biggest argument is less on the morality aspect but on the fact that people are trying to claim that they shouldn’t have to pay for something they’ll never use,” Latner said.
But it’s just like car insurance — it covers the “what ifs,” even if you’re a safe driver. What if you accidentally rear-end the car in front of you? You have insurance to cover you and your vehicle.
What if you have an unplanned pregnancy? It’s comforting to know your health care provider can cover some of the expense.
Katherine Thomas, one of Cal Poly’s Health Insurance Education Project (HIEP) campus coordinators, said female health care is still a big issue.
“Women’s prevention is a controversial subject because female Republicans, that are known to be conservative, are now having to speak publically about what will benefit their female needs,” Thomas said.
As a country, we’ve come a long way in discussing these gray areas, Thomas said.
“Personally I have experienced how much it costs to buy birth control without insurance, and it’s not cheap,” Thomas said, “And I haven’t had insurance for a decade.”
Thomas believes that this is a way for people to take back more personal responsibility for their actions. So let’s do it ladies, let’s take back what’s rightfully ours.