Quoted Text

Orr wrong person for family planning chief

   Many of us who have been fighting to end discrimination against women in health care remember Dr. Susan Orr’s [acting deputy assistant secretary for population affairs at the Office of Public Health and Science] support for President Bush’s plan to take away insurance coverage for birth control of federal employees. Unbelievably, this opponent of birth control has been appointed to lead an agency responsible for funding family planning programs and contraceptive services.
   This appointment is an insult to women — most of whom use birth control at some point in their lives. Contraception not only enables women to decide whether or not to become mothers, it also enables them to space their pregnancies so they can have healthier families when the time is right.
   That is why New York fought so hard for the Women’s Health and Wellness Act, which required employers who offer insurance coverage for prescriptions to include contraceptives. While birth control is the most widely used prescription drug for women of reproductive age, for many years it was routinely excluded from insurance plans. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 49 percent of typical large group insurance plans failed to routinely cover any reversible contraceptive method. Women of reproductive age were forced to pay as much as 68 percent more for out-of-pocket medical care than men.
   The Women’s Health and Wellness Act has helped to end discrimination against women in health care. Shamefully, President Bush’s appointment of Susan Orr does not advance this goal.
   JOANN M. SMITH
   Albany
The writer is president and CEO of Family Planning Advocates of New York State.

Quoted Text

Women of reproductive age were forced to pay as much as 68 percent more for out-of-pocket medical care than men.

Only because the 'burden' of an 'unwanted pregnancy' always falls on the more educated of the two sexes....and the carnage always ends up in the uterus....

SO WHAT RESPONSIBILITY DOES THE PENIS HAVE??????

Quoted Text

That is why New York fought so hard for the Women’s Health and Wellness Act, which required employers who offer insurance coverage for prescriptions to include contraceptives

Since when is pregnancy a 'disease'? Birth control is just that..birth control. Why then aren't condoms covered under your medical insurance.
But don't ya just love the words 'birth CONTROL'? Let's say we try 'self CONTROL'? And I guess we should be thanking NY for fighting so hard for the Womens Health and Wellness Act....just keeps adding to the high tab we pay now to live here.