For women, no money or time for healthcare
American women can't seem to find the time or money to get adequate healthcare. That's the conclusion of a study released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit healthcare research association.
Costs seem to be the biggest obstacle. The survey of more than 2,700 women and 500 men (for comparison) from different income levels and ethnicities found that 27 percent of women had delayed or neglected medical treatment because they couldn't afford it. For uninsured women, that percentage jumped to two thirds. About 1 in 5 women said they couldn't find the time or skip work to go to the doctor.
Women also said that they were the primary decision makers about healthcare for their families. Seventy-eight percent said they are responsible for choosing a child's doctor, and 84 percent said they also take the child to appointments. As for men, "they were more likely to say it's a joint responsibility, and I'll leave it at that," says Alina Salganicoff, one of the lead researchers on the project.
The study found that even when women do go to the doctor, they avoid talking about important topics such as smoking, mental health, sexual history, and diet. Just over half said they had chatted about diet with a doctor in the past three years; about one third had discussed sexual history.
"The one piece of advice I would give to people going in [to the doctor's office] is to prepare," said Carolyn Clancy, the director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and a member of an independent panel that discussed the Kaiser Family Foundation's findings in a press conference. She urged women to make a list of topics they want to talk about and make sure their doctor answers all their questions.
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