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Women have yet ANOTHER money issue to deal with — - The Pay/Wage Gap - The Wealth Gap - The Opportunity Gap And now there’s insights showing how Women are being dealt a “pink tax” in regards of medical/health expenses. We are found to drop $15 Billion more annually on medical expenses vs men seen via company-sponsored health insurance plans during the years 2017-2022. The gender toll now trolls to how much Women are having to pay to stay as health as possible. Women utilize health insurance 10% more than men, on average. At a time where we are seeing insurance costs going up and the impact of coverage going down. Where can the “pink-tax” be seen: * Earlier age recommendations for annual checkups when compared to men * Frequent gynecological exams * The high cost of breast cancer imaging compared to imaging required for other types of cancer * Menopausal transitions and the treatments they necessitate * A higher likelihood to require medical services that surpass a plan’s annual deductible One I want to add to the lists having to meet with specialists post- pandemic. Women already deal with stress and its even compounded even more with not only finances but also healthcare. This stress also impacts confidence and mental wellness. It's even more for those who are self-employed, retired or wanting to be employed. The costs to coverage yourself is an catastrophic cost itself. I would love to see more employees do a restructuring of how insurance look for not only employees but how Women utilize the coverage to make sure their health is covered. And to shift to healthcare providers, the costs that you have for women related services that are critical — like a mammogram costing $500++ (if there's a co-pay or if that Woman has to pay for it all). Women stated they would need to earn roughly $237,000 annually to be comfortable and about $502,000 a year to feel rich — which is nearly $37,000, or 8%, more than Men. I can see why they feel that way due to the fact they needed the more to live — more, fully, healthy lives! I'm sure this isn't what Barbie wanted for us. #women #womenandmoney #healthcare
The whole US health/insurance/gov't/3rd party payer/hospital network system is a racket akin to organized crime. If you look at a chart of expenses, they shot up sharply after the advent of medicare in 1965. We have neither free market nor fully gov't regulated/price controlled healthcare but a crony capitalism based system. The FDA is bought and paid for by big pharma. Look at all the garbage in our food these days. I'd say pick one road or the other but stop this pretense that we have a "free market" system; we don't. "Another key aspect of American revitalization is our healthcare system, which consumes nearly one-fifth of GDP. It isn’t just a matter of shifting the burden of who pays. The problem is much deeper. Healthcare spending per capita has increased twelve-fold since 1960. Are we twelve times healthier? Quite the contrary: We face today a terrible pandemic—not of Covid, but of chronic disease. Autoimmunity, allergies, diabetes, obesity, addiction, anxiety, and depression afflict two-thirds of the population, up from a few percent in our grandparents’ time." RFK JR
Nadia, this is an eye-opener. As a man, I have to admit that many of these financial burdens women face aren't things I've had to consider in the same way. Your point about the need for restructuring insurance is spot-on. If we're all paying into the same system, it should equitably serve everyone, regardless of gender. Thanks for shedding light on this. It's crucial for everyone, men included, to recognize these disparities so we can work towards a more equitable system.
As a breast cancer survivor I can attest to the amount 💰 I have to spend.
lol, men don’t utilize healthcare nearly as much as women, hence their costs are lower. Men die years earlier than women therefore they don’t utilize healthcare as long, they are more accident prone, (risk takers) and work at jobs that are more dangerous. Very hard to take research seriously that ignore these factors.
Thanks for posting Nadia Vanderhall. We need to keep this topic in front of more people. In other countries, women's health/hygiene products are untaxed and even subsidized, but not in the US.
Health insurance premiums should be proportional to health plan benefits and usage of those benefits. Is that not the case?
Jeff Abbott
1y
Add to that men are kind of dumb about healthcare…they say that 10,000 men die each year from stubbornness. So healthcare is cheaper if you don’t access it until your doctor is a coroner. So that is the No.1 reason male healthcare is cheaper
Medical Laboratory Scientist, (MLS)ASCP
1yIn my opinion and from what I see… the whole healthcare system is broken, especially financially. The only way it’ll ever be fixed is by saying good bye to Insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and capping off Big Pharma. Supply and demand plays a factor too. In addition it’s only going to get more expensive and less accessible with the continued decrease in reimbursement rates. Cost to provide services and healthcare supplies are marked up hundreds of percents! Reimbursement rates from these insurance companies are the reason for the expense too. The cost to run a lab test for example might be 100$ but the lab charges 200$ to pay for supplies, analyzers, reagents and the trained lab Personel performing the tests but the reimbursement rates from private and government insurance agencies only reimburse 50$. So healthcare either eats the 150 or the consumer pays it. It’s all coded for “ethics” but really it’s the largest money laundering industry in the world! I agree women do have more health care costs.. I mean where do babies come from but I don’t think it’s gender discrimination. I don’t believe the problem is going to be fixed with insurance. The need for health equity will always be there.