WOMEN’S HEALTH: Greater Utilization of Existing Services Is Key
An editorial in today's Santa Barbara News-Press says more Californians need to make use of existing health care programs. Execerbating the low utilzation rate, the piece argues, is the state's high rate of uninsurance. Lack of coverage, particularly among low- income, minority women, "results in far fewer trips to the doctor's office or clinic for regular checkups and exams that every woman should be undergoing on an annual basis." Furthermore, even when women are covered by programs such as Medi-Cal, "they tend not to participate in existing programs designed to prevent serious illness." The piece concludes that the "issue is not so much how to provide coverage but to encourage women to participate in existing health care insurance programs. The non-elderly poor, for example, can get medical services through the state's Healthy Families program; for elderly women, Medicare offers a gateway to regular health checkups. As is usually the case, information and knowledge are the keys" (2/4).
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