Taking healthcare and insurance coverage for granted
In one of my other blogs, I posted a review of a study on the relationship between a woman’s aging uterus and the incidence of C-sections. Briefly, I summarise:
The older women are during their first pregnancy, the higher are the chances of having a Caesarean delivery due to impaired uterine function. These findings were based on data collected in Scotland covering a 25-year period and analysed by scientists at Cambridge University.
• There was a 7-fold increase in the proportion of women aged 35-39 entering their first pregnancy
• There was a 10-fold increase for women aged 40 or older also having their first pregnancy.
• The rate of Caesarean sections has also more than doubled in the same period of time.
The researchers also looked into uterine function. Samples of myometrium were taken from 62 women who had elective C-sections.
Results showed that an aging uterus has reduced degree of spontaneous contraction and as well as change in the type of contraction. This leads to impaired uterine function and labour problems, which eventually ends in a C-section. These findings indicate an association between advanced maternal age and poor labour outcome.
I found the study interesting, not because of the statistics, but because of the tests done on myometrium samples. Besides, I am an aging mother myself who had a late first pregnancy.
What I didn’t take into consideration were the healthcare consequences of such a study - especially health insurance coverage.
This comes from having lived in Europe for almost 17 years. I’ve lived in 4 European countries during this period and in every country I’ve lived in it was always the same - obligatory but affordable health insurance. Everybody is covered for all the basics, including childbirth.
Shame on me, though. I grew up in an Asian country where the healthcare system was not optimal and only available for those who can afford it. How quickly one forgets.
Not having ever lived in the US, I can’t claim of really knowing how the healthcare system in that country works. But it is a well-known fact that it is different from the universal system of most European countries. According to 2006 CDC statistics, 14.8% of Americans, equivalent to 43.6 million people were without health insurance coverage.
And then there is anecdotal evidence. Take for example a former colleague, an American who came for postgrad studies to Germany about 10 years ago. She was diagnosed with leukaemia, had bone marrow transplant, and recovered. Everything was covered by her health insurance in Germany. However, because of her medical history, she is considered uninsurable in the US. For this reason, she couldn’t go back and live in her home country. “What will happen if ever I have a relapse?” is her main concern. She is still living and working in Germany.
In another case, an infant was refused private health insurance coverage because of a birthmark that may (or may not) require surgery in the future.
There have been recent issues of refusal by some insurance companies in the US to cover women who had had C-sections because in such cases the chances of having a similar procedure in subsequent pregnancies are very high.
The study summarized above can be another weapon in the hands of health insurance companies. Would they now refuse coverage to women of a certain age?
I need to defend the study, though. It was done by scientists from the University of Cambridge University based on data collected in Scotland. UK’s healthcare system is universal and free so that private health insurance is not as big an issue there as in the US.
It is very sad that valid scientific evidence that is supposed to help in the advancement of medicine and healthcare can actually be used as a weapon against those who should benefit.
Photo credit: stock.xchng
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