Federal Issues - Health Care Reform

Health Care Reform

Planned Parenthood believes that all Americans should be guaranteed access to quality, affordable health care.

An integral part of America's health care safety net, Planned Parenthood has called for a renewed focus on preventive health. Many women, including many Planned Parenthood clients, rely on their reproductive health care provider as their primary source of health care. Through this relationship, women have access to a broad range of reproductive health care services that promote and protect their general health and well-being.

Statewide, Pennsylvania’s 44 Planned Parenthood health centers receive federal, state, and private funding to provide affordable, quality care to millions of patients a year. But recently, Planned Parenthood has been under attack from anti-choice radicals who want to prevent us from serving women, men, teenagers, and families.

New Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Report spotlights the impact that the nation’s health care crisis is having on women.

According to the report:

• Women are more vulnerable to high health care costs because women’s reproductive health requires more regular contact with health care providers, including yearly Pap tests, mammograms, and obstetric care. These tough economic times are especially difficult for women struggling to pay for basic health care.
• The Women's Research and Education Institute reports that women of childbearing age spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men, in part because of reproductive health-related supplies and services.
• A Kaiser Family Foundation report shows that roughly 16.7 million women are uninsured, and thus likely to postpone care and delay or forgo important preventive care such as cancer screenings.
• Family planning centers, like Planned Parenthood, serve as an entry point for millions of women. Guttmacher reports that six in 10 clients consider family planning centers their main source of health care. Oftentimes, it is their first interaction with the country’s health care system.

What You Can Do

Join a rapid response team! Rapid Responders are needed to contact their legislators at a moment’s notice when a health care reform vote including reproductive health is coming. Rapid Responders are also responsible for recruiting as many new team volunteers as possible and participating in monthly action. You can sign up by clicking here!

You can also write a letter to editor on women’s health as a part of any health care package, or attend a Town Hall Meeting with your legislator and ask their plans about Health Care Reform. Email us here to join us: administration@pppamail.org. We’ll give you all the tools necessary!