Women's Health In Sorry State
More than one-quarter of American women have high blood pressure and nearly one-fifth lack health insurance, according to a study released Thursday that says federal and state governments fail to meet women's health needs.
The country meets just two of 27 health measures established by the federal government, the report found. Those two measures are the percentage of women who receive mammograms and see a dentist annually.
Found inadequate were the screening and treatment for other diseases, programs to get women to quit smoking and prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy are inadequate.
"The outlook for women's health is not good," said Judy Waxman, vice president for health at the National Women's Law Center. "Both the nation as a whole and individual states fall short."
The center and the Oregon Health and Science University released the report card.
Waxman said state budget crises were partly to blame, as were federal policies.
Women's health and access to care varied greatly:
The report found that black and Hispanic women fared far worse than white women.
While no state received a satisfactory grade, the best marks went to Minnesota, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Colorado, Utah, Maine and Washington.
At the bottom of the rankings were Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.