Key Takeaways
- The Kaiser Household Basis has carried out the KFF Ladies’s Well being Survey roughly each 4 years since 2001 to offer a glance into the vary of ladies’s well being care experiences, particularly these that aren’t sometimes addressed by most surveys. The election 12 months supplied a singular alternative to ask a nationally consultant pattern of three,661 girls and 1,144 males ages 18-64 about seven girls’s well being insurance policies prone to be mentioned with Democrats in energy and the way a lot of a precedence they need to be for the brand new President and Congress.
- Of the seven coverage points we requested about, passing a legislation that stops individuals who have dedicated home violence from having a gun is a prime precedence for the biggest share of ladies (56%) and males (40%), and girls throughout celebration traces.
- Crucial coverage challenge to Black girls (61% stated prime precedence), amongst these we requested about, is requiring that states enable girls enrolled in public packages like Medicaid to maintain their well being protection for a full 12 months after childbirth.
- Most individuals are unaware that Black girls usually tend to die from being pregnant or childbirth than White girls.
- One of many coverage points with the most important gender variations within the prime precedence rating is passing a nationwide legislation that every one staff be supplied paid time without work from work following the delivery or adoption of a kid (46% of ladies say it needs to be a prime precedence in comparison with 29% of males). Solely three in ten girls (29%) and males (31%) know that the U.S. doesn’t have a nationwide coverage the place staff can take paid time without work from work for the delivery or adoption of a kid.
- Not surprisingly, attitudes towards passing a nationwide legislation requiring states to maintain abortion authorized cut up alongside partisan traces with greater than half of Republican girls (63%) saying it’s not too necessary or shouldn’t be carried out, in distinction to 54% of Democratic girls who rank it as a prime precedence.
Introduction
The Biden-Harris Administration and new Congress, with Democratic majorities within the Home and (successfully) the Senate, are anticipated to put the next precedence on sure girls’s well being points than the earlier administration. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris prioritized many ladies’s well being points throughout their marketing campaign, together with reversing the Trump Administration’s Title X rules, codifying Roe v. Wade, addressing the U.S.’s excessive maternal mortality charge, making a nationwide paid household and medical go away program, and reauthorizing the Violence In opposition to Ladies Act.
KFF’s newest Ladies’s Well being Survey surveyed 3,661 girls and 1,144 males ages 18-64 (Methodology) between November 19 and December 17, 2020. Amongst a number of subjects, we requested respondents how a lot of a precedence seven key girls’s well being insurance policies needs to be for the President and Congress – prime precedence, necessary however not a prime precedence, not too necessary, or shouldn’t be carried out. This challenge transient examines attitudes towards these coverage priorities and variations by gender, political celebration affiliation, and demographic components.
Prime Coverage Priorities
We requested survey respondents about seven coverage priorities round maternal well being, paid go away, and sexual and reproductive well being which are prone to be mentioned with the change in command of the White Home and the Senate. Ladies are extra seemingly than males to say all these points have been a prime precedence. President Biden campaigned on many of those coverage priorities, and certainly, there may be variation in help of those insurance policies by political affiliation. Throughout the board, girls who recognized as Democrats usually tend to say every of those have been prime priorities in comparison with Republican girls or girls who determine as political independents (Desk 1).
Home Violence
As Senator, President Biden launched the Violence In opposition to Ladies Act (VAWA) that was signed into legislation in 1994 by President Invoice Clinton. VAWA, which expired in 2018, helped set up many violence prevention efforts, together with funding for rape disaster facilities, shelters, and different helps for individuals who have skilled home violence. The Home of Representatives handed the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2019, nevertheless it stalled within the Senate because of Republican objections to a brand new provision that might prohibit perpetrators of home violence from buying or possessing a firearm. President Biden has stated he’ll make VAWA reauthorization one among his prime first 100-day priorities.
Of the seven coverage points we requested about, passing a legislation that stops individuals who have dedicated home violence from having a gun is a prime precedence for the biggest share of ladies (56%) and males (40%), and girls of all political affiliations, although extra Democratic (70%), unbiased (50%), and non-affiliated (52%) girls than Republican girls (38%) rank it a prime precedence (Determine 1).
Passing a legislation that stops individuals who have dedicated home violence from having a gun is crucial challenge to Asian girls, with 73% saying this challenge needs to be a prime precedence for the President and Congress. It’s also the problem that the biggest shares of White girls (52%) and Hispanic girls (58%) say needs to be a prime precedence.
Discrimination
Part 1557 of the Reasonably priced Care Act (ACA) prohibits discrimination primarily based on race, shade, nationwide origin, intercourse, age, and incapacity in well being care, however the Trump Administration revised the legislation’s rules and eradicated a number of the protections from discrimination primarily based on gender identification, sex-stereotyping, and sexual orientation. Throughout his marketing campaign, President Biden pledged to revise these rules to once more prohibit this kind of discrimination in well being care, and on his first day as President, he issued an Government Order to that impact.
Creating insurance policies that guarantee persons are not discriminated in opposition to due to their gender identification or sexual orientation is the following coverage challenge that has the following largest shares of each males (36%) and girls (48%) who say it needs to be a prime precedence. Two-thirds of Democratic (66%) and practically half of unbiased girls (46%) additionally imagine it needs to be a prime precedence. Two-thirds (67%) of LGBT girls and 60% of LGBT males cite this challenge as a prime precedence, in comparison with 47% of straight girls and 34% of straight males (Determine 2).
Maternal Well being
The Medicaid program funds greater than 4 in ten births within the U.S.; protection for pregnant enrollees ends 60 days after supply. Within the 39 states (together with D.C.) which have expanded Medicaid below the ACA, postpartum girls have a pathway to inexpensive protection after these 60 days if their incomes stay modest. Within the states that haven’t expanded Medicaid, many ladies who’ve Medicaid protection for his or her being pregnant are left and not using a pathway to protection and change into uninsured two months after giving delivery. This occurs as a result of the earnings eligibility limits for conventional Medicaid are decrease than they’re for pregnancy-related Medicaid in these states. CDC information present roughly one-third of all pregnancy-related deaths happen one week to at least one 12 months after a being pregnant ends. Black girls are considerably extra seemingly than girls of different races to have a extreme maternal morbidity occasion on the time of supply that might result in dying or require long-term care.
Within the marketing campaign, President Biden supported efforts to develop coverage responses to handle the excessive charge of maternal deaths amongst Black girls. One coverage proposal that has gained some traction is extending Medicaid’s protection for being pregnant from 60 days postpartum to 12 months postpartum. Additionally, the Biden Administration may approve pending state waivers to increase postpartum Medicaid protection.
Almost half (48%) of ladies say that requiring states to permit girls enrolled in public insurance coverage like Medicaid to maintain their well being protection for a full 12 months after childbirth needs to be a prime precedence. Among the many coverage points we requested about, that is crucial challenge to Black girls (61% stated prime precedence) (Desk 2), girls with incomes beneath 200% of the federal poverty degree (FPL) (50%), and girls enrolled in Medicaid (56%).
Black girls are 3.2 instances extra prone to die from a pregnancy-related complication than White girls, however consciousness of this substantial distinction will not be extensively recognized. Amongst girls with a university training or greater, Black girls are 5.2 instances extra prone to die from a pregnancy-related complication than White girls. When requested if Black girls are kind of prone to die from being pregnant or childbirth than White girls, one third of males (31%) and 42% of ladies know that Black girls usually tend to die. About half of Black girls (49%) and males (46%) are conscious of the disparity (Determine 3).
A majority additionally say growing and funding extra packages to enhance take care of pregnant individuals needs to be a prime precedence or an necessary precedence (Determine 4). About half of Black girls (51%) and Democratic girls (48%) say this needs to be a prime precedence. Nonetheless, one-quarter of Republican girls (25%) and one in 5 males (20%) say it’s not too necessary or shouldn’t be carried out. To assist enhance take care of pregnant individuals and enhance maternal and toddler outcomes, Congress took up a number of payments within the final session, together with one sponsored by then-Senator Kamala Harris, that embody, amongst others, proposals to enhance information assortment on maternity care; fund and require scientific coaching on well being fairness and implicit bias; use evidence-based high quality enchancment strategies; diversify the perinatal workforce; and develop broader maternity care supplier networks in rural areas.
Paid Parental Go away
The U.S. doesn’t have a nationwide paid parental go away coverage. Federal workers have been not too long ago granted 12 weeks of paid parental go away following the delivery or adoption of a kid, however the 2019 KFF Employer Well being Advantages Survey discovered that solely 35% of non-federal staff are employed at a agency that provides paid parental go away for the delivery or adoption of a kid (voluntarily or required by states or native legislation), with substantial variation by agency traits.
Our survey finds that about three in ten girls (29%) and males (31%) know that the U.S. doesn’t have a nationwide paid go away coverage. The most important share of respondents to this query say they have no idea. One-third of working moms (32%) know that the U.S. doesn’t have a nationwide paid go away coverage, barely greater than non-working moms (26%).
Among the many coverage priorities requested about, help for passing a nationwide legislation that every one staff be supplied paid time without work work following the delivery or adoption of a kid has the biggest gender and age variations, with 34% of males and 50% of ladies ages 18-49 rating it a prime precedence in comparison with 18% of males and 37% of ladies ages 50-64. A majority of ladies throughout celebration traces and race/ethnicity teams say that this challenge is both necessary or a prime precedence, with bigger shares of Democratic girls (57%) and Black girls (56%) than Republican girls (30%) and White girls (40%) saying it needs to be a prime precedence (Determine 5).
Household Planning
Although restricted below the Trump Administration, the Title X household planning program offers low- or no-cost household planning providers and contraception to tens of millions of low-income men and women. The providers supplied by Title X clinics assist girls keep away from unintended, mistimed, or undesirable pregnancies and supply entry to preventive care and STI screening and therapy. Annual funding for the Title X program has not elevated for the previous 10 years, although analysis means that this system would want greater than twice that quantity to adequately meet the necessity for publicly-funded household planning.
The vast majority of survey respondents say that offering extra public funding to help entry to household planning providers and contraception needs to be a prime or necessary precedence (Desk 3). This coverage precedence was rated a prime precedence for a bigger share of Black girls (48%), Hispanic girls (45%), and Asian girls (44%) in comparison with White girls (36%). Bigger shares of Democratic (93%), unbiased (80%), and non-affiliated (81%) girls say this needs to be a prime precedence or necessary in comparison with Republican (64%) girls. A bigger share of ladies with incomes beneath 200% FPL (45%) say this needs to be a prime precedence in comparison with girls with incomes ≥ 200% FPL (39%) (Determine 6). Three in ten males (30%) and about one-third of Republican girls (34%) say that is “not too necessary” or “shouldn’t be carried out.”
Abortion Rights
It’s extensively anticipated that within the coming years, the U.S. Supreme Court docket will hear a problem to the correct to abortion established in Roe v. Wade. Ten states have legal guidelines that might ban all or practically all abortions if Roe v. Wade have been overturned. Seven states have legal guidelines that specific the intent to limit the correct to authorized abortion to the utmost extent permitted by the Supreme Court docket within the absence of Roe v. Wade. Passing a nationwide legislation that might require all states to maintain abortion authorized, or codifying Roe v. Wade into legislation, would offer a federal proper to abortion if Roe v. Wade have been overturned by the Supreme Court docket. President Biden has pledged help for laws codifying Roe v. Wade and the correct to abortion in all states, although this extraordinarily partisan challenge would seemingly be met with resistance.
A couple of-third (37%) of ladies say passing a nationwide legislation that might require states to maintain abortion authorized needs to be a prime precedence, in comparison with about one-quarter (24%) of males. Greater than half (54%) of Democratic girls say it needs to be a prime precedence, in distinction to 12% of Republican girls. A bigger share of respondents opposes this coverage in comparison with different well being and household coverage points examined within the survey, with 21% of ladies and 27% of males saying this “shouldn’t be carried out,” with a large partisan cut up. Virtually half of Republican girls (46%) say that passing a nationwide legislation requiring states to maintain abortion authorized shouldn’t be carried out, in distinction to six% of Democratic girls (Determine 7). A bigger share of White girls (25%) says passing a nationwide legislation requiring all states to maintain abortion authorized shouldn’t be carried out, in comparison with Hispanic (19%), Asian (10%), and Black girls (11%).
Conclusion
The KFF Ladies’s Well being Survey outlines the extent of help for a lot of girls’s well being coverage points raised through the 2020 presidential marketing campaign which may be priorities for the brand new presidential administration and Congress. The Biden-Harris Administration and new Congress might emphasize many ladies’s well being points within the coming years, however with a carefully divided Home and Senate it will likely be difficult to enact these insurance policies, regardless of sizable public help for a lot of of those them.
For an interactive instrument to view cross-tabs by gender, celebration ID, and race/ethnicity, click on on tab for cross-tabs.