Respond to the following on health insurance and abortion…
Abortion forms an essential part of a woman health care. Approximately 920,000 women perform abortions every year in the United States. These numbers point to the importance of reproductive health care as well as a woman’s right to decide whether they want to have children or not. With access to reproductive health care an especially costly affair, states have had to step in to put the required legislative laws to ensure women have access to this important service in terms of health insurance.
In the state of Florida, there are restrictions on abortion which took effect in April 2017. The health insurance in the state under the Affordable Care Act only covers abortion if the woman is in danger, if there is a case of incest, or if it was a rape. Apart from that, the individual can buy an additional rider at an additional cost, which may not be affordable to many. Subsequently, approximately 70% of clinics in Florida counties did not offer abortion services, with 20% of Florida women living in those counties (Vamos et al., 2017).
The statistics for the state’s infant and maternal mortality rates do not make for good reading. In 2015, the ratio for pregnancy-related mortality was 16.9 per 100,000 live births (Vamos et al., 2017). While this is significantly lower than the 26.2 per 100,000 live birth in the previous year, the rates are still relatively high. Almost 50% of those occurred while the mother was still pregnant, miscarriage and almost 10% as stillborns (Vamos et al., 2017). Considering how essential women reproductive health is, there is a need for more to be done in the state if the above rates are to be lowered. The state needs to review its laws to enable women access to insurance either for contraceptives and abortions.
As an advanced nurse, one can use Essential VI: Health Policy and Advocacy which prepares nurses to intervene at the policy level as well as employing advocacy strategies to influence health care and improve healthcare outcomes.
References
Vamos, C. A., Thompson, E. L., Cantor, A., Detman, L., Bronson, E., Phelps, A., … & Sappenfield, W. (2017). Contextual factors influencing the implementation of the obstetrics hemorrhage initiative in Florida. Journal of Perinatology, 37(2), 150-156