ABSTRACT
A gender just health care system would provide all women and men with health care coverage for physical as well as mental services. The health care system should help women live a healthy life so they can pursue their life plans. Copayments and deductibles need to be eliminated and the loss rolled into the monthly premium that persons enrolled in managed care pay. If managed care’s restrictions on choice continue, a medical specialty focused specifically on women’s health will be needed so that women can designate such physicians as their primary care physicians. Medicaid’s expansion in eligibility requirements has improved access for pregnant women but this does little to help women develop themselves. A gender just health care system would have more input from men and women regarding its design and management, and would provide health data or report cards about various plans so that people could make more informed choices.
