Los Angeles Times
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Los Angeles, CA 90012
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Published October 1, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-maternity-20111001,0,1594619.story
Dear Editor,
Although I support the reform law your article discusses, I cannot help but to express my belief in that extending maternity coverage would not, in itself, help improve prenatal care rates. The point of the state not wanting to wait until 2014 to require that insurers offer maternity coverage, I believe, is to decrease the $2 billion costs that premature births, as a result of poor prenatal care, incur upon the state. As a student of Public Health and advocate of prevention, however, I believe that, in order to achieve the desired rates that would reduce the incidence, and costs, of premature deaths, policy efforts should also aim to focus on women before pregnancy. Preventive measures, such as improving women’s educational achievement and both encouraging the use of and reducing the barriers to family planning, are important as they reduce the lack of awareness of pregnancy during the first trimester. Lack of awareness of the importance of prenatal care and lack of family planning are barriers to the prenatal care rates the state wishes to see, thus, I believe, educational programs and encouragement of the effective use of family planning services would help increase pregnancy awareness and prenatal care rates.
Jessica Hernandez
jessicahdz133@yahoo.com
2309 Blake Street Apt 401
Berkeley, CA 94704
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI found this article very much to my own interest as it addresses an important issue that is relevant to any female living in CA. I very much agree with your viewpoint regarding the importance of preventive measures to improve prenatal care and thus improve the health of new-born infants and decrease the infant mortality rate. Like the article stated, it is essential to pass the reform law regarding expanding coverage for maternity care despite unhappy policyholders who believe they don't need maternal care coverage. I agree that increasing maternal care coverage, in itself, would not be sufficient to lower the numbers of premature deaths and improve the quality of prenatal care. However, if preventive care was emphasized, then the total cost for maternal care would possibly be lower because future mothers would be healthier if they were more knowledgeable about how to take care of themselves during pregnancy, and preventable treatments and or hospitalization could be avoided. Preventive measures would significantly decrease the number of premature deaths, as healthier babies are usually born to healthier mothers and the $2 billion resulting from premature deaths can be saved by the state to use on other health expenses.
I believe that informing future mothers about options regarding maternal care coverage (ie. changing plans within insurance company) is also important as there is an increase in unexpected occurrences of pregnancy.
Sincerely,
Sandy Ha
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteWhat really struck me about this article was when Van said that she was considering an abortion due to the pregnancy being risky in addition to it being extremely expensive. The gift of life is sacred and amazing and it saddens me that concern for medical costs is now a huge factor in the decision to have a baby. Women should have the knowledge of how they can get coverage for maternity costs in a more transparent way than the situation at present. I also believe that increasing access to education about prenatal care is essential in lowering total maternal costs. Transportation may be a huge barrier in terms of getting prenatal care. If a woman knows about prenatal care and wants to go see a physician but can't because the closest clinic is 50 or 100 miles away, she still will not be able to obtain prenatal care. The focus should also be on increasing not only knowledge, but physical accessibility.
Public health already holds an extremely small cut of the federal budget, with prenatal care an even smaller part of that budget. Lawmakers must be proactive rather than reactive; doing so would save the government money and increase the health of mothers and children all over the country.
Best,
Christina Huynh