Monthly Archive for October, 2012

Women’s Health Coverage Under Attack in Florida

Published on October 17, 2012 in Judith Selzer, Repro Health Watch and Reproductive Health. 3 Comments

This blog post was published in conjunction with Repro Health Watch, an exciting new edition of the Women’s Health Policy Report, which compiles and distributes media coverage of proposed and enacted state laws, ballot initiatives and litigation affecting women’s access to comprehensive reproductive health care.

Judith Selzer, VP of Public Policy & Communications, Fla. Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates

We’re in the heat of battle in Florida as we fight Amendment 6, which was referred by the Florida Legislature to the November 6th general election ballot.  If passed, it could allow politicians to interfere with a woman’s personal health care decisions by depriving some women, such as nurses, teachers and other public employees, of access to the health insurance coverage they have today.  It’s another battle in the war on women’s health.

Dr. Suzie Prabhakaran’s story:  For me, this issue hits very close to home.  I had a patient who was diagnosed with cancer after she learned she was pregnant.  She needed to start chemotherapy right away to protect her health, but to do so I advised her she would need to end her pregnancy.  If Amendment 6 were to pass, health plans would not be able to cover the care my next patient in this situation needs.  This kind of political interference may serve a certain political agenda but it would be extremely harmful to my patients.

Amendment 6 puts politicians in charge of women’s personal medical decisions and makes no exceptions for women’s health.

Every woman knows that sometimes things go tragically wrong with a pregnancy.  When problems do occur, a woman and her family deserve all the medically available options.  If passed, Amendment 6 could force a woman who faces tough decisions, because of a severe fetal abnormality or a cancer diagnosis, to deal with the added strain of figuring out how to pay for the medical care she needs – even though she has health insurance.

It is especially cruel that politicians want to put a financial burden on a woman who is already struggling through a terrible tragedy.

Nationally recognized women’s health care advocate Sandra Fluke is adding her influential voice to the growing chorus of opposition to Amendment 6.  Editorial boards, faith leaders, doctors and trusted voices including Catholics for Choice, the League of Women Voters and the NAACP, are speaking out about why they are urging a “No” vote on Amendment 6.

The dangers of Amendment 6 are gaining national attention with a recent blog in Ms. Magazine, coverage by the New York Times and NBC and opposition from influential advocates such as Fluke.

Let’s be very clear about who will suffer if Amendment 6 passes:  teachers, nurses, firefighters and other women who are dedicated public servants could lose access to the health care they currently have.  It’s bad enough that two million Florida women don’t have health insurance.  It is unconscionable that politicians are trying to cut coverage for women who have it.

The last thing any woman wants or needs is to have politicians in the middle of personal medical decisions – especially during a health crisis.  Amendment 6 will throw open the doors to doctors’ exam rooms – exposing patients to the judgment of politicians when what they really need is the professional care of their physicians and the loving support of their family and friends.

Florida women don’t want politicians interfering with our health care decisions.

We’re fighting hard to defeat Amendment 6 – and we could use your help.  Please spread the word to your family and friends in Florida and ask them to vote “NO” on 6!

Judith Selzer is Vice President of Public Policy & Communications for the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates.

National Partnership Vice President Leticia Mederos Honored

Published on October 2, 2012 in National Partnership Staff. 0 Comments

Leticia Mederos, Vice President

The National Partnership is so proud that, as part of its 2012 Gala today, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) presented our own Leticia Mederos with a staff recognition award.  Letty was honored for the work she did in her former position, as chief of staff for U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D – Conn.). She is the first person CEF selected for this honor who did not work for the Appropriations Committee.

Letty joined the National Partnership in February of this year as vice president, overseeing our work and family and workplace fairness programs, and she’s already having the same kind of impact here.

CEF is the largest education coalition in the United States with 80 organizations committed to securing adequate federal funding for the nation’s education system. Its annual gala event honors lawmakers and congressional staff who have shown exemplary support of better education for all.

“We are so proud that Letty is being recognized for her great work and leadership on an issue critical to families and to our country’s future,” said National Partnership President Debra L. Ness. “The passion and extraordinary commitment she brings to her work is an inspiration to all of us.”

R U 4 Paid Sick Days?

Published on October 1, 2012 in Debra Ness. 1 Comment

Debra Ness, President, National Partnership

Cross-posted from the Huffington Post.

This week, workers all across the country will be tweeting that question to candidates for office at all levels, asking them to support this basic workplace standard or explain why they will not. At a time when more than 40 million hardworking Americans can’t earn any paid sick time to use when they get stomach flu or need a medical test — and millions more can’t earn paid sick time to care for an ailing child — it’s a question we all need answered.

Right now in the United States, more than 40 percent of the private sector workforce — and more than 80 percent of low-wage workers — cannot earn a single paid sick day, no matter how many years they have been on the job, no matter how good their work.

We all pay a price for that. Nobody wins when restaurant workers with flu handle our food, nursing home staff report to work with strep, and sick children go to day care and infect other kids.

Paid sick days are essential to families’ health and economic security. It’s time to end the days when we force workers to either work sick or lose pay or their jobs – when parents have to choose between their jobs and sending sick children to school or child care.

Laws that let workers earn paid sick days are immensely popular. They are good for workers, families and businesses. They protect the public health. And they strengthen our economy. Laws that guarantee workers the right to earn paid sick days are common sense, win-win advances the country needs.

But right now, these laws are the exception rather than the norm. Paid sick time laws are on the books — and working well — in San Francisco, the District of Columbia, Connecticut and now Seattle. But progress elsewhere has been stalled and, at the federal level, Congress has failed to make the issue a priority by passing the Healthy Families Act, which would guarantee workers the right to earn seven paid sick days a year.

It’s time to speak out and ask all candidates to tell us where they stand. That’s why the National Partnership is launching “seven days for sick days” on Twitter. Starting today, we’re using Twitter to ask candidates across the country: #RU4paidsickdays?

Joined by our allies who represent moms, workers, women, seniors, businesses, LGBT families, Latinos and others, we’re asking candidates to go on record in support of paid sick days. I hope you will join us. To make it easy, we’ve created an interactive map with a built-in custom tweet for candidates in every congressional district. It’s now as easy as click, click, click to ask your candidates #RU4paidsickdays?

Today is also the start of National Work and Family Month, when we recommit to building the kind of family friendly nation we all need. So join us, today, and throughout the week by using Twitter and other social media to ask candidates in your state to speak out on this issue.