As the population continues to expand (currently approaching 6 billion in 1999), the importance of the population's health increases exponentially. Family planning, the right to choose when and how many children to have, is crucial to healthy and appropriate expansion of the planet's population. Inherent to the future health of the growing population is the ability to access and use safe reproductive planning.
The following five sites provide information on Reproductive Health Services (RHS) and Managed Care from different angles, including Medicaid, insurance coverage, and reproductive research. If quality RHS are available to women of all social standing, position, income, and insurance status, then half of the population will be provided with quality, consistent care, as well as future generations they bear. These sites and their related documents speak to RHS in general, Medicaid coverage, and managed care.
Managed Care Organizations vary in the amount of reproductive health
services they cover. Some plans cover a range of services and some cover
none at all. It is particularly hard to measure managed care as a whole,
as ". . .only about two-thirds of managed care plans collect data on specific
services, and not all of those collect data on family planning" (State
Health Notes).
SITES & RELATED DOCUMENTS:
AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION
The American Public Health Association (APHA) is the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals in the world, representing more than 50,000 members from over 50 occupations of public health. The Association and its members have been influencing policies and setting priorities in public health since 1872. APHA brings together researchers, health service providers, administrators, teachers, and other health workers in a unique, multidisciplinary environment of professional exchange, study, and action. Whether APHA is proposing solutions based on research, helping to set public health practice standards, or working closely with national and international health agencies to improve health worldwide, its mission is to continue to strive to improve public health for everyone.
There is a good deal of information related to managed care on this site. Links are established to updates on APHA's involvement in legislative affairs and advocacy, fact sheets, and information on medicine and public health.
Rating: *****
Related Document:
The American Public Health Association strongly opposes parental consent requirements for adolescents to receive Title X funded reproductive health services. Title X services include family planing, reproductive health services, e.g. gynecological exams, disease screening and lab tests, and health education. APHA maintains that such restrictions on access to care could jeopardize adolescent health. Confidential family planning and primary care services are necessary for adolescents and teenagers to receive immediate quality medical treatment.
This site is focused on parental consent for family planning. It provides clear information of nation-wide facts about parental consent. The paper is clear and easy to understand.
Rating: ***
The Alan Gutttmacher Institute provides reproductive health research, policy analysis and public education. The mission of The Alan Guttmacher Institute is to protect and expand the reproductive choices of all women and men in freedom and dignity. It is to enable individuals everywhere to have access to the information and services they need to exercise their rights and responsibilities concerning sexual activity, reproduction and family formation. It takes into account the diversity of populations and gives priority to the needs and concerns of those who may be disadvantaged by youth, poverty, race, ethnicity or geography. To fulfill this mission, the Institute seeks to inform public opinion, provide assistance to policymakers and strengthen program development. The goals of The Alan Guttmacher Institute's domestic and international activities are to
This site is filled with information regarding different aspects of reproductive health, contraception, abortion, and public policy and law. The sheer quantity of information on this site makes navigation a bit overwhelming.
Rating: *****
Issues in Brief: Reproductive Health Services and Managed Care Plans: Improving the Fit.
This Issues in Brief - and the report on which it is based, Improving the Fit: Reproductive Health Services in Managed Care Settings - synthesizes and places in context key recent research efforts in an attempt to illuminate what is known about the critically important interaction between reproductive health and managed care. It addresses five major issues:
Rating: *****
The Kaiser Family Foundation is designed to inform the public about health policy. There are clear and concise links to the different program areas, or "libraries" in which the Foundation works. Kaiser focuses on managed care and tracking the policy changes. Included in the site is a daily reproductive health report, which has links to trends (i.e. in teen pregnancy), political influences and developments, provider and coverage issues,
The Foundation publications have been organized into five areas: Health
Policy, Reproductive Health, AIDS-HIV, Media Programs, and South Africa.
These libraries may be accessed directly from the home page, or through
a document search using our search tool. Each library has also been organized
according to categories and ongoing programs at the Foundation. This site
was designed for easy navigation, and even has a page devoted to explaining
how to access, download, and view documents.
Rating: *****
The shift to Medicaid "poses challenges" for states. First, as many Medicaid recipients now obtain their care through managed care plans, "states don't necessarily know how much they are spending on family planning". Over the last 15 years, funding for reproductive health services for low-income women has shifted dramatically but "without fanfare" from the Title X family planning program to Medicaid (State Health Notes). From 1980 to 1994, Medicaid spending on family planning rose 70% to $332 million, accounting for 46% of U.S. public funding for family planning.
This document provides useful information on the role Medicaid provides in covering family planning.
Rating: *****
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is a national organization that promotes education and equity for all women and girls. The AAUW provides information on policy that effects women and girls, lobbies and advocates for education and equity, and funds pioneering research on girls and education, community action projects, and provides fellowships and grants for outstanding women around the globe.
The AAUW website provides a significant amount of information on Reproductive Rights, and Managed Care Reform as it affects women and families. The site is easy to use.
Rating: *****
The American Association of University Women supports access to safe and affordable family planning and reproductive health services for all women. Contraception and related outpatient services are basic health care for women and should be covered by health insurance policies, as are other basic health care needs. Access to the full range of contraceptive care ensures that women are able to choose methods that are the most appropriate for their health and lifestyle tin order to determine when to have children.
In any single year, 85% of sexually active women not using a contraceptive method become pregnant. Seven percent of HMO's cover no forms of reversible contraception, i.e., drugs and devices. AAUW supports federal legislation that would ensure equitable coverage for contraceptive drugs, devices, and medical services in private health insurance.
This document provides a short, easy-to-understand summary of facts.
Rating: *****
In addition, the following documents provide useful information on the topic of reproductive health services and managed care:
The Title X Family Planning
Program
Managed Care Reform
is Critical for Women and Families
The National Health Law Program is pleased to announce the unveiling of our new website. Made possible by a generous grant from the Open Society Institute, the new website design is geared toward fast and easy access to the information that health advocates need. Links are provided to the following subject categories: Advocacy, Federal Advocacy, California, Children's Health, Consumer Resources, Managed Care, Medicaid, Medicare, Public Accountability, Racial/Cultural Issues, Reproductive Health, State and Regional.
This site is valuable for anyone interested in health, either at a personal level or at that of the pubic.
Rating: *****
Medicaid covers family planning services and supplies. The statute does not define what specific services and supplies states must provide. States have the option to include services that prevent or delay pregnancy and/or fertility services. In addition, states have the discretion to determine the specific services and supplies that will be covered as family planning, so long as the services "are in sufficient amount, duration, and scope to reasonably achieve their purpose."
While abortions are not considered family planning services, Medicaid also requires coverage of abortion services when necessary to save the life of the mother or to end a pregnancy caused by rape or incest. States must provide family planning to Medicaid beneficiaries of childbearing age who desire such services and supplies. This includes minors who can be considered to be sexually active. Family planning must be made available to individuals who are categorically needy Medicaid recipients, including pregnant women. These services are optional for beneficiaries who are medically needy.
This site speaks to what the federal stipulations of Medicaid RHS benefits are, as well as what aspects are left to the states' discretion.
Rating: *****
Planned Parenthood is a quality organization with a quality website. Planned Parenthood believes in the fundamental right of each individual, throughout the world, to manage his or her fertility, regardless of the individual's income, marital status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or residence. Based on these beliefs, the mission of Planned Parenthood is to:
Rating: **** 1/2
The Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act
More than half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended, and half of all unintended pregnancies end in abortion. Contraceptives have a proven track record of enhancing the health of women and children, preventing unintended pregnancy, and reducing the need for abortion. However, although contraception is basic health care for women, far too many insurance policies exclude this vital coverage.
In fact, while most employment-related insurance policies in the United States cover prescription drugs in general, the vast majority do not include equitable coverage for prescription contraceptive drugs and devices. Similarly, while most policies cover outpatient medical services in general, they often exclude outpatient contraceptive services from that coverage. This failure is costly, both for insurers who may have to pay for either maternity care or abortion, as well as the families whose physical and financial well-being is threatened by unintended pregnancy and lack of access to equitable coverage for contraceptives.
This document is clear and details the need for the Equity in
Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act as well as its status
in Congress.