Women's Concerns Deserve a Prominent Place at Health Care Summit

As with almost every other political topic these days, opinions differ widely on the usefulness of President Obama's upcoming summit on health care. Those who are visitors from another planet think Democrats and Republicans are going to come together, sing "Kum-ba-ya," and agree to pass reform straightaway. Many earthlings say it's a just big show to make the Republicans look bad, and nothing positive will happen.

It's the wrong argument to have at the summit. Don't get me wrong. I'm unapologetically pro-choice, and I don't think a legal medical procedure should be excluded from coverage because some people want the government to control reproductive decisions. But there are other pressing issues that affect millions more women, and the abortion red herring threatens to bury these genuine concerns.

To begin with, women need a universal coverage system more than men. Because they hold more low-paying jobs that lack benefits, work part time, or drop out of the workforce for caregiving, not as many women have employer-provided insurance. So a patchwork that covers only a sliver of the 40 million or so uninsured won't help much.

And don't forget the cost. On average, a U.S. woman still makes 79 cents to a man's dollar for full-time, year-round work -- translating to less money available to buy individual policies. That makes it particularly hard on single women, who are twice as likely to go without coverage as their married sisters.

Even when they can afford to buy private policies, many women live in states where they're punished in the pocketbook simply for being female, according to a report from the National Women's Law Center. Case in point: Missouri allows insurance companies to charge women more than twice what they charge men for the same coverage. And contrary to what you might think, high rates are not because of maternity benefits. Most private policies don't include maternity at any price. And another little irritant -- many drug plans happily pay for Viagra but refuse to cover birth control pills, women's highest out-of-pocket medical expense.

Women of child-bearing age aren't the only ones with a lot at stake in the debate over controlling costs. A third of those over 50 are in households spending more than 10 percent of their income on health care, as compared to only a quarter of men in a similar situation. Even for those lucky enough to cross the finish line to Medicare, the cost of Part B coverage has skyrocketed in recent years. Since women are the largest group of elderly living in poverty, it can mean a choice between food, heating, or paying the premiums.

Even though women's other health care concerns deserve the full attention of participants, abortion is still likely to be front and center at the summit. It's just too easy to grandstand on it and throw red meat to both sides in the process. But it shouldn't be the major topic. Women must listen to the dialogue very closely. If our elected representatives insist on defining us only in terms of reproductive choices, maybe we should define them only in terms of some of our other choices -- like whether or not they should be sitting in Congress.