Many of the establishments engaged in examination and promoting of annual preventive check ups, dedicate the issue of women’s health especial attention.

Possession of health insurance coverage is a critical factor affecting access to today’s health care.

Women with health insurance are more likely to obtain needed preventive, primary and specialty care service, and have better access to may of the new advances on women’s health.
According to resent study published by Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in February on this year – in USA nearly one in every five women between 18-64 years old is uninsured. Among those uninsured about 40% are immigrants.
Over 17 million are uninsured. When women are uninsured, they are more likely to postpone care and to forgo filling prescriptions than their insured counterparts and often delay or go without important preventive care such as mammograms and Pap tests.
An Institute of Medicine report estimates that 18,000 people die unnecessarily each year because they are uninsured.

ILLINOIS INSURANCE FACTS
Women have special health care needs. The State of Illinois has passed the following laws related specifically to female health care issues and insurance requirement.

Birth Control
Effective January 1, 2004 all individual and group insurance and HMO policies that provide coverage for outpatient services and outpatient prescription drugs or devices, must also provide coverage for all outpatient contraceptive services and all outpatient contraceptive drugs and devices approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Deductibles, coinsurance, waiting periods are the same as those imposed for any other outpatient prescription drug or device under the policy.

Maternity
HMOs must cover maternity care, including prenatal and post-natal care and care for complications of pregnancy and care with respect to a newborn.
Other health insurance policies, including PPO policies, must provide coverage for complications of pregnancy.
Federal law (Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978) requires employers with 15 or more employees to cover maternity.

Maternity – Post Parturition Care
All group and individual health insurance policies offered by health insurance companies and HMOs must cover a minimum of 48 hours impatient hospital stay following a vaginal delivery and 96 hours following a caesarian section for both mother and newborn.

Mammograms
All group and individual health insurance policies offered by insurance companies and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in Illinois must cover routine mammograms for all women age 35 and older, at the same rate they would pay for any other diagnostic x-ray.
A routine mammogram is x-ray examinations of the breast for the presence of breast cancer, even of no symptoms are present. The insurance company of HMO must pay for routine mammograms according to the following schedule:

• age 35 to 39   - baseline mammogram
• age 40 or older – annual mammogram

Effective July 6, 2005, coverage must be expanded to include a mammogram at the age and intervals considered medically necessary by the woman’s health care provider for women under age 40 who have a family history of breast cancer or other risk factors. This benefit must be provided in policies or certificates upon issuance or renewal on or after July 6, 2005.

According to statistics at least 50% of women between 18 and 64 have a fibrocystic condition. These women have lumps in the breast, along with pain and tenderness. An insurer or HMO may not refuse to cover you, nor may they attached an exclusionary rider to your policy, solely because you have been diagnosed as having fibrocystic condition, unless you have had a breast biopsy that indicates you are likely to incur breast cancer or your medical history shows the condition to be chronic.

Breast Surgery
For both group and individual coverage, HOMs and insurance companies must allow the attending physician to determine the length of hospital stay following a mastectomy, the removal of a breast.
The insurance company or HMO must provide coverage as long as the attending physician determines the length of stay to be medically necessary.
In Illinois, no individual or group insurance or HMO policy may deny coverage for the removal of breast implants if:

1. The implants were not inserted for purely cosmetic reasons; and
2. It is medically necessary for the breast implants to be removed.

Ovarian Cancer
Effective January 1, 2006 group insurance policies issued, delivered or renewed by insurance companies and HMOs must pay for surveillance tests for ovarian cancer for female insured’s who are at risk for ovarian cancer.

Unfortunately in today’s society there is a conviction that if the employer does not offer health insurance we ourselves are not able to get it.  What we don’t realize is that the employer deducts a portion of our weekly wages to pay in part for health insurance. If we quit current job and start new one or open new business - why not purchasing an individual policy for ourselves?

HSA (Health Savings Account) - combining general health insurance with high deductible and savings account on which we deposit money for future medical expenses. Usually cost of HSA is lower then the traditional insurance plans.