Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Healthcare Reform = American Women Will Die?

Puh-lease. The Independent Women's Forum, a conservative, anti-feminist organization, just launched a new ad campaign with the sole purpose of telling women that health care reform = death. Death for women with breast cancer, more specifically.



This outrageous and deceptive ad will be broadcast in 8 battleground states, including Colorado, Indiana and Nevada.

Never mind the fact that prominent breast cancer organizations such as The National Breast Cancer Coalition, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation all believe that reforming the health care system is key to increasing early detection and prevention.

What really gets me, though, is the featured woman's statement that, "My odds of surviving breast cancer were high because my care was the best." What about the 16.7 million uninsured women in the U.S.? What about the under-insured, or those whose breast cancer diagnoses were deemed "pre-existing conditions". Language like, "my care was the best", clearly seeks to give American women who currently enjoy (and I use that term loosely) the benefit of having health insurance, a false sense of privilege and safety, while simultaneously instilling a fear that their so-called privilege could be taken away.

American women currently have the highest rate of breast cancer in the world, and something must be done about it!

1 comment:

Danielle said...

Great post Allie! Also, African-American women have higher mortality rates from breast cancer, yet 1 in 3 have no health care insurance.

FMF has no policy stance on the health care insurance reform bill, but we do believe all Americans deserve affordable, quality health care.

http://www.womenshealth.gov/minority/africanamerican/bc.cfm

http://www.blackwomenshealth.org/site/c.eeJIIWOCIrH/b.3561241/k.C05/The_Health_Imperatives_for_Black_Women.htm