Because
CSW is dedicated to supporting research that promotes social justice and
equality and to fostering outstanding applied
feminist scholarship by graduate students, we initiated a new series of
publications to address policy issues in our mission areas of gender,
sexuality, and women's issues. The latest compilation of policy briefs includes
policy recommendations related to the Covered California, the health exchange
set up in California to implement the Federal Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act (ACA), known as “Obamacare.” The ACA was enacted in an effort by the
federal government to move towards universal healthcare coverage, including
healthcare access for all income levels and employment statuses. Although the
rollout of ACA and Covered California (California’s health exchange) have been
subjected to criticism from some quarters, CSW believes the Covered California
provides an opportunity to improve women’s health status throughout the state.
To address the need for comprehensive policies that are sensitive to the needs
of women, CSW chose “Women’s Reproductive Health Policy in California” for our
third volume in a series of publications rethinking public policy on gender,
sexuality, and women’s issues. We partnered with Julie Elginer, an esteemed
health policy advocate and a Teaching Associate for Master’s-level courses at
the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, in developing the theme and
attracting submissions from graduate students.
The
first brief by Jennifer Frehn M.P.H., a UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
2013 alumna, Enhancing Access to Prenatal
Care Within the California Health Exchange, calls for the implementation of
a “prenatal specialist” curriculum amongst the responsibilities of the
third-party navigators who will be hired by the state to assist pregnant women
in enrolling in California’s Health Benefits Exchange program. The exchange
program provides coverage for prenatal and newborn care; however the efficacy
of the program is contingent upon “the ability of the navigators to help
pregnant women to take immediate and full advantage of new and existing
services.” Read more
here. 
Karen
Lai, a dual degree M.P.H. candidate at the UCLA Fielding School of Public
Health, and an M.D. student at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, critiques
the ACA segment that mandates state-based health insurance “exchanges to
offer insurance coverage of FDA-approved contraceptives without extra costs to
the enrollee” to include low-income women. In Universal Access to Contraceptives under Covered California will
Improve Women’s Reproductive Health, Lai suggests to “strategically
position navigators (enrollment helpers) to focus resources on the most
unreached and/or high-risk communities.” Read more
here. 
“Despite
the established connection between poor maternal oral health and preterm birth,
there is no requirement for dental services to be included,” amongst the list of
health services that must be covered by insurers. Katsume Stoneham, also a UCLA Fielding School of Public Health 2013 alumna, vigorously argues for
preventative dental care to be included as a priority health service that
insurers must cover in her brief Including
Preventive Dental Services in Maternal and Newborn Care will Improve Health
Outcomes. Read more
here. 
The last of the briefs in this set, titled Improving Maternal Depression Screening and Treatment for Pregnant Women by Echo Zen, a current M.P.H. student in the Field School of Public Health, brings into focus an important perinatal mental health issue, which often goes ignored-maternal depression. Zen argues the dangerous risks of untreated maternal depression, and its disproportionate impact on low-income women. He recommends incentivizing regular screenings by clinicians, crisis hotlines, and availability of screening tools. Read more here.
These briefs will be distributed widely to agencies,
legislators, organizations, and interested parties and will contribute to
public dialogue on a topic vital to the welfare of all of us. We hope also that
those involved with the Affordable Care Act, Covered California, and similar
healthcare exchanges will consider the arguments of this group of highly
promising scholars. If put into
practice, their ideas would certainly improve the overall health of women in
California and the U.S.
--Radhika Mehlotra
Radhika
Mehlotra is a graduate student in the Luskin School of Public Policy and a
graduate student researcher at UCLA
--
To
access all the CSW Policy Briefs on the eScholarship Repository on the California
Digital Library site, visit: CSW CDL Policy
Briefs
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