“Obamacare” and women’s health
Beginning tomorrow, women’s health care will get a big boost, thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
Insurance companies will have to pay for women’s well-care with no out-of-pocket costs for women. That includes screenings for cervical and breast cancer, contraception, breastfeeding counseling and supplies and more.
Until the ACA, insurance companies could deny full coverage for birth control and women could be forced to pay co-pays (or full charge in the case of high-deductible plans) for mammograms and PAP tests.
While opponents are still fighting for the “right” to deny women coverage for birth control, most plans will cover it.
The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends screenings and counseling for sexually transmitted diseases, Hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS, for high blood pressure and cholesterol and diabetes and for obesity and domestic violence.
The good thing about all of this is that breast and cervical cancers will be caught earlier, when they are most curable. Until now, women with high-deductible health insurance plans were as likely as uninsured women to have their cancers discovered at later stages and more likely to die from them.
Women in violent relationships can get help getting out before their abusers kill them instead of feeling helpless and trapped.
New mothers will get help in breastfeeding, which is better for both mother and baby — and far less expensive than formula.
Not only was denial of these services inhumane, it was incredibly expensive. Cancer is hideously expensive to treat — chemo can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, while a mammogram costs about $100 to provide. Even if an early cancer is discovered, a lumpectomy and perhaps one round of chemo are far less expensive than finding a cancer after it has spread, both in dollars and in human cost.
Allowing women no-cost access to these tests and services will save thousands of lives every year. Mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, daughters and friends will survive because of it, and our overall medical costs will decline.
Sounds like a win-win to me.
Tags: Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
Life o’ Mike honors Joe Eblen
Life o' Mike presented its first Michael T. Danforth Community Service Award to Joe Eblen at a luncheon on June 8, in the Friendship Hall of First Congregational Church, 20 Oak St., Asheville.
Joe, seen here with Leslie Boyd, left, and his wife, Bobbie, has spent his life helping children and families, both as a coach and game official for more than 60 years, and as founder of Eblen Charities.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.