Human Services News

National Women's Law Center:

While some states made some small gains in critical indicators for improving women's health, the nation as a whole and most states are falling behind in their quest to meet national goals for women's health, a comprehensive analysis of state policies and women's health status finds.

Released today, Making the Grade on Women's Health: A National and State-by-State Report Card is the fourth in a series of triennial reports to grade and rank each state based on 27 health status benchmarks developed largely using goals set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2010 initiative.

The report is a project of the National Women's Law Center and Oregon Health & Science University.

With major support from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation as well as a number of other funders, this report reflects the importance of improving women's health and the substantial commitment required to do so.

Making the Grade gives the nation an overall grade of "unsatisfactory" for meeting only three of 27 benchmarks -- the percent of women 40 and over who receive regular mammograms, the percent of women who annually see a dentist, and the percent of women 50 and over who receive screenings for colorectal cancer.

No state receives an overall "satisfactory" grade for women's health status, although three states receive a "satisfactory minus."

This is down from eight states that received a "satisfactory minus" in 2004.

Vermont receives a "satisfactory minus" and ranks No. 1, followed by Minnesota and Massachusetts.

Twelve states receive failing grades, up from six states that failed in 2004.

The other 11 failing states are Louisiana, Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, the District of Columbia, South Carolina, Texas and Alabama.

"By and large, states are failing to meet minimum standards when it comes to women's health," said Judy Waxman, NWLC Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights.

"The states' patchwork policies regarding women's health result in far too many women falling through the cracks and not accessing the services they need to maintain optimal health."

Among the many troubling regressions in the status of women's health are in obesity rates and diabetes rates.

The percentage of women who are obese increased in all states.

It is the only status indicator in which every state performed worse since 2004.

This has serious health consequences since women who are obese are more likely to develop and suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

Nationally, the percentage of women with diabetes also increased: 46 states got worse in this indicator, and only three states improved.

"The outlook for women's health is nowhere near approaching the nation's goals for 2010 set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People initiative," said Dr. Michelle Berlin, Associate Professor at Oregon Health & Science University.

"The nation barely improved since our last report, meeting three out of 27 benchmarks graded in this report.

Failing to meet these goals undermines not only the health and well-being of women, but the well-being of our country as well."

Only two policy goals were met by all states: Medicaid coverage for breast and cervical cancer treatment and participation in the Food Stamp Nutrition and Education program.

States made some progress in adopting policies to facilitate essential health screenings and access to services.

The National Women's Law Center is a non-profit organization that has been working since 1972 to advance and protect women's legal rights.

The Full report can be found at: http://hrc.nwlc.org/.