health care reform

Planned Parenthood worked to expand access to reproductive health care for millions of women

What Does Health Care Reform Mean for You?
Watch this short video on what the passage of health care reform means for women in America
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What's in the health care reform bill? 

• It extends health care coverage to tens of millions of women and families. 
• It guarantees access to affordable, lifesaving screenings for breast and cervical cancer. 
• It protects women against gender discrimination by private insurers. 
• It ends the practice of dropping coverage because of pre-existing conditions. 
• It significantly increases insurance coverage of reproductive health care, including family planning.

Without a doubt, health care reform is a step forward for women, and a giant step toward a healthier America.  But our work isn't over yet. 

Know the Answers

View the photo petitions in support of women's health

See our videos stories from Planned Parenthood patients, staff, and supporters

Planned Parenthood believes that all Americans should be guaranteed access to quality, affordable health care.

An integral part of America's health care safety net, Planned Parenthood has called for a renewed focus on preventive health. Many women, including many Planned Parenthood clients, rely on their reproductive health care provider as their primary source of health care. Through this relationship, women have access to a broad range of reproductive health care services that promote and protect their general health and well-being.

Nationwide, more than 850 Planned Parenthood health centers provide a wide range of reproductive health care to millions of women every year. The vast majority of this health care is preventive -- and includes contraception, cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted infections, and immunizations. Such reproductive health care is basic health care, and must be covered by any national health insurance plan if we are to meet women’s health care needs.

Here are the facts:

• Women are more vulnerable to high health care costs because women’s reproductive health requires more regular contact with health care providers, including visits for yearly Pap tests, mammograms, and obstetric care.
• Women of childbearing age spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men, in part because of reproductive health-related supplies and services.
• Roughly 16.7 million women are uninsured, and thus likely to postpone care and delay or forgo important preventive care, such as cancer screenings.
• Six in 10 clients consider family planning centers, like Planned Parenthood health centers, their main source of health care. Often, these centers are their only interaction with the country’s health care system.