As Breast Cancer Diagnoses Go Up For Many Minority Women, Healthcare Costs Do TooApril, 2007
Medical insurance coverage for women today, especially the plans offered by their employers, is costing women more money than men for regular checkups. At the same time, recent breast cancer studies have found that minority women are hit harder by the disease, resulting in their greater need for expensive breast cancer treatments.
At
rep-am.com, a new study reports that most high-deductible medical insurance coverage plans favored by employers often end up posing an unfair burden for women, largely because women need more routine medical exams to ensure their health, and the costs of those exams quickly add up.
The median insurance expenses for men under 45 in these plans added up to less than $500, while for women it comes in around $1,200.
And at the same time, another study reports that minority women, especially black and Hispanic women, are more likely to be diagnosed with a late-stage, and aggressive form of breast cancer, leading to a surge in very necessary, and very expensive, breast cancer treatment options. These same minority women are less likely to have good quality health insurance, resulting in fewer checkups, fewer mammograms, and fewer preventative services in general that can save lives.
So, as health care costs are going up for women, we now see that the need for lifesaving treatments is also going up, even though those treatments won't be available to those women who need them the most.
Clearly this is a terrible situation. Breast cancer treatments can cost thousands of dollars each month, reflecting yet again how large-scale changes in our medical insurance coverage policies are much needed if we plan to save the lives of women who suffer from breast cancer. Employed women are not immune either, since they're not receiving the kind of medical coverage they need, forcing one to ask, what exactly can someone do to protect their health?
Facts on:
Medical Insurance Coverage
Did you know...
Breast cancer studies find that minority women are harder hit by the disease?
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The smartest thing for
all women to do is to get their regular checkups, whether it's through their employer-offered plan or through an individual health insurance plan. Those who qualify for Medicare must insist on the same treatments.
And while shopping around for low-cost coverage, and making sure to compare health insurance plans that offer regular checkups, might be time consuming, stressful, and/or expensive, in the long run it could easily save someone's life.
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