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JULY 2004

50-State Study on Women’s Health Finds Small Gains, Key Setbacks

While states are making some progress in improving health care for women, they are taking a two-steps-forward-one-step-back approach that fails to meet the health care needs of women. That is the conclusion of the 2004 edition of Making the Grade on Women’s Health: a National and State-by-State Report Card, a comprehensive study on the status of women’s health and health policies released by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

The report ranks each state based on 27 health status benchmarks and gives the nation a grade of “Unsatisfactory” for meeting only two benchmarks—the percentage of women receiving regular mammograms and the number of dental visits. No state receives a “Satisfactory” grade for women’s health status. Minnesota ranks first overall followed by Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Colorado, Utah, Maine and Washington. Six states receive failing grades. The states ranking the lowest were: Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Texas.

In addition to grading and ranking each state, Making the Grade evaluates whether states have adopted key women’s health policies. Only Medicaid coverage for breast and cervical cancer was met by all the states—up from 40 in 2001. Three states, New York, California and Rhode Island, met a majority of the policy goals (over 35). Idaho, South Dakota and Mississippi met the fewest policy goals. Preventing tobacco sales to minors was the most consistently improved policy with 18 states now meeting the policy goal as compared to only 5 in the 2001 Report Card.

“State policy makers’ piecemeal approach to our health care crisis has resulted in a complex and ineffective system that fails to meet the health care needs of women,” said Judy Waxman, NWLC Vice President for Health.

 “The outlook for women’s health is grim and nowhere near approaching the nation’s goals for 2010 set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health People initiative,” said Dr. Michelle Berlin, Associate Professor at the Oregon Health & Science University. “Failing to meet these goals undermines not only the health and well-being of women, but the well-being of our country as well.”

The National Women’s Law Center is a non-profit organization that has been working since 1972 to advance and protect women’s legal rights. NWLC focuses on major policy areas of importance to women and their families including health, education, employment, and economic security, with special attention given to the concerns of low-income women.#

Reprinted by permission of the National Women’s Law Center and OHSU.

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