Focus at Four: Why Texas is one of the worst states for women’s reproductive health
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – A recent report ranks Texas the second worst state in the country for women’s reproductive health.
Among people of reproductive age, Texas also has one of the highest rates of being uninsured.
Theresa Morris, the Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Texas A&M University said on Tuesday that part of the issue is the expense of reproductive health in Texas.
“Texas has the strictest requirements to be on Medicaid and in fact, working adults don’t qualify to be on Medicaid unless they’re caregivers, disabled, pregnant, or over 65. Then the Affordable Care Act does have subsidized insurance. But one has to make 100% of the poverty level to enter that exchange. So, it’s called the gap, and they’re about, I think, 800,000 people in Texas who are in this gap,” Morris explained.
This report wasn’t all bad news for Texas, especially when it comes to mortality rates.
“Texas has put resources into addressing maternal mortality and infant mortality. There’s a maternal mortality and review board that does biennial reviews, and so that, I think, is why you’re seeing those numbers a little bit better. There are over 40 measures on this report card and Texas didn’t do poorly in all of them,” said Morris.
One of the things Morris said Texas could do to address the issue was expand Medicaid.
“Think about who to vote for issues that you might support and write to your Congress person about that, and I also think support, community birth, and home birth and midwives. That’s a place where the maternity deserts are served. These are certified, professional midwives who are all over Texas serving many of those deserts, and we even have some in our community. We have a birth center, Jubilee Birth Center in our community, and also focusing on how do we expand healthcare access,” Morris added.
