Women pay more than men for health insurance in the United States. Much, much more. This issue might be hard for Australians, covered by Medicare and community-rated private health insurance, to understand. Women’s health floods the media in New York City, and you can learn a lot from the information provided — newspaper articles, television programs and advertisements. Pharmaceutical companies are allowed to advertise drugs on television, hospitals advertise in the newspapers, and doctors advertise on the subway. Women are prominent in ads for antihistamines, antidepressants, analgesics and heartburn treatment. Even the ads for Viagra, Cialis and Levitra are filled with smiling, contented women.
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- Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Austin Hospital, Melbourne, VIC. (The author is currently on sabbatical leave at Columbia University Medical Center in New York.)
- 1. Pear R. Women buying health policies pay a penalty. New York Times 2008; 30 Oct. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/us/30insure.html (accessed Nov 2008).
- 2. Rossouw JE, Anderson GL, Prentice RL, et al; Writing Group for the Women’s Health Initiative Investigators. Risks and benefits of estrogen plus progestin in healthy postmenopausal women: principal results from the Women’s Health Initiative randomized controlled trial. JAMA 2002; 288: 321-333.