| The United States is one of two industrialized countries with no universal health insurance. There have been many unsuccessful attempts, since the Truman presidency to develop some form of national health insurance. The most recent failed health reform attempt was during the Clinton presidency. Since then, there has been an increase in the number of health policies considered and adopted by the state legislatures. Many of these health policies focus on women's health concerns. At the same time that there was a shift in health care policy development to the states, the percent of women state legislators increased. What impact did these women legislators have on the adoption of women's health policies at the state level?; Using regression analysis, this study addresses three hypotheses. The first is that states with a higher percentage of women in the legislature will be more likely to adopt legislation that address women's health issues. The second is that legislatures with a 'critical mass' of women (20% or greater) will adopt women's health policies and the last is that women Democrats will be more likely to adopt women's health policies. The units of analysis are the states.; The dependent variable is a Women's Health Policy Index, an index of eight health policy issues addressing women's health concerns that have been adopted in the states, from 1993 through 2002. These include Medicaid family planning waivers, state mandates for private insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives, direct access to obstetricians, use of obstetricians as primary care providers, breast and cervical cancer screenings, mandated length of stay after mastectomy, and reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy. The independent variables are percent of women state legislators, legislatures with 20% or more women legislators and the percent of women Democrats, and select socioeconomic and political characteristics.; Results indicate that there is a positive relationship between political party (Democrat) of the female legislators and the women's health policy index in only the first two sessions. Factors that may account for women legislators, as a whole not having an impact are discussed. |
