Men's Health Is A Second Class Citizen.
Let me start this off with this: I'm all for health care, and people getting good healthcare. What I'm not for is one gender being raised above another. I'm happy that women get the healthcare attention they enjoy. What's upsetting is that men don't enjoy a corresponding level of healthcare attention.
I started to write this one based on the existence of a federal Women's Cancer Act (passed in 1998), which requires insurance carriers to cover certain expenses related to breast cancer. These mandatory coverages include:
However, in my research I came to find out that men's health in general takes second chair to women's health. This strikes me as interesting in light of women living longer than men, women having healthier lives than men, more men die of the top ten causes of death than women; women are told that they're valued parts of society while men are not. These three features are not new, these are modern and historical aspects that go back at least 100 years.
So...why do I think men's health is a second class citizen:
Well...of course, there is the legislative requirement that certain breast cancer treatments be covered. You'll note that the "required coverages" are primarily cosmetic - reconstruction and prosthesis...Congress was worried about how a woman looks.
I bet the femnists cheered when they heard of the passage of this bill, while conveniently ignoring their rant that women are treated as objects to look at. Whatever.
Congress passed a Breast Cancer Awareness stamp (BCAS). The BCAS was used, and is still used, to raise funds for breast cancer awareness (it raises $7-10M per year). A corresponding bill for a Prostate Cancer Awareness Stamp (PCAS) was shot down, the sponsors of the bill being required to take their case to be part of a legion of causes that wanted to have semi-postal stamps, and fight it out.
A semi-postal PCAS was finally approved, but it was not a fund raising stamp, simply an awareness raising stamp. Interestingly, the American Cancer Society refused to endorse the PCAS, because it contained text telling men get regular checkups and tests. Imagine the media if some group even suggested that women shouldn't get regular checkups and tests for breast or cervical cancer. Whatever.
Surely gender bias doesn't exist in the Federal Government...the ACLU would be up in arms.
The Office Of Women's Health raises awareness about women's health issues. This office has six bureau's scattered around the country. There is no Office Of Men's Health, and insufficient support in Congress to propose such an office.
I could go on and on...I'm cutting this off here as my research is taking me in other realted areas. I'm now more interested in showing that men's health is clearly lacking, which will hopefully be my next topic.
I started to write this one based on the existence of a federal Women's Cancer Act (passed in 1998), which requires insurance carriers to cover certain expenses related to breast cancer. These mandatory coverages include:
- reconstruction of the breast on which the mastectomy has been performed;
- surgery and reconstruction of the other breast to produce a symmetrical appearance; and
- prostheses and physical complications associated with all stages of mastectomy, including lymphedemas, in a manner determined in consultation between the attending physician and the patient.
However, in my research I came to find out that men's health in general takes second chair to women's health. This strikes me as interesting in light of women living longer than men, women having healthier lives than men, more men die of the top ten causes of death than women; women are told that they're valued parts of society while men are not. These three features are not new, these are modern and historical aspects that go back at least 100 years.
So...why do I think men's health is a second class citizen:
Well...of course, there is the legislative requirement that certain breast cancer treatments be covered. You'll note that the "required coverages" are primarily cosmetic - reconstruction and prosthesis...Congress was worried about how a woman looks.
I bet the femnists cheered when they heard of the passage of this bill, while conveniently ignoring their rant that women are treated as objects to look at. Whatever.
Congress passed a Breast Cancer Awareness stamp (BCAS). The BCAS was used, and is still used, to raise funds for breast cancer awareness (it raises $7-10M per year). A corresponding bill for a Prostate Cancer Awareness Stamp (PCAS) was shot down, the sponsors of the bill being required to take their case to be part of a legion of causes that wanted to have semi-postal stamps, and fight it out.
A semi-postal PCAS was finally approved, but it was not a fund raising stamp, simply an awareness raising stamp. Interestingly, the American Cancer Society refused to endorse the PCAS, because it contained text telling men get regular checkups and tests. Imagine the media if some group even suggested that women shouldn't get regular checkups and tests for breast or cervical cancer. Whatever.
Surely gender bias doesn't exist in the Federal Government...the ACLU would be up in arms.
The Office Of Women's Health raises awareness about women's health issues. This office has six bureau's scattered around the country. There is no Office Of Men's Health, and insufficient support in Congress to propose such an office.
I could go on and on...I'm cutting this off here as my research is taking me in other realted areas. I'm now more interested in showing that men's health is clearly lacking, which will hopefully be my next topic.
posted by cookies at 7:31 AM
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