Organizations like the American federal
government, the Catholic Church, and nearly half the states in
US want to or do limit a woman’s access to abortion in their
employer-provided health care packages. The new wave of legislation,
policy, and social commentary focused on women’s reproduction has
been framed as a matter of social policy, but ignored are the
economic and legal requirement of equal pay for equal work. These
legislative actions hope to limit women’s choices when it comes to
reproduction but by limiting the cash value and practical value of
health insurance for women and their ability to work uninterrupted by
pregnancy, these policies mandate pay inequity between genders.
During World War II, the American
federal government instated restrictions on raising pay for private
sector employees in an attempt to control inflation and show fairness
to troop compensation. They left in a loop hole that allowed
companies to offer additional benefits like sick days and health
insurance to employees because these perks were seen as
non-inflationary. In the 1940’s, employer-provided health care
coverage exploded and became a new compensation for private workers
during the war and the tradition of having employers in America
provide health insurance was born.
Even today, the health insurance
coverage is an important part of any employee compensation package.
Many employees choose to stay in their current position to preserve
their medical coverage. Some companies increase the salary or hourly
pay of employees who are otherwise covered by insurance if they
decline the company policy.
The average cost of health insurance
premiums for an individual ranges from $5,000-$15,000 per year. The
cost of insurance has increased at a rate higher than inflation every
year for several years, making insurance harder and harder for an
individual to afford. At the same time insurance is skyrocketing in
cost, the salaries have essentially stagnated. The stalled salaries
make the ever more costly insurance policies an even more important
aspect of their compensation.
The value and cost of an insurance
policy is based on what the policy does and does not cover.
Contraceptive coverage is a substantial benefit to women and not
covering it is a tremendous cost for a female employee to absorb.
The annual cost of birth control for
women ranges in cost from $0 for the rhythm method to $6,000 for
sterilization. An abortion costs between $225 - $10,000 depending on
the state, trimester, method, and complicating factors.
In a study done by the March of Dimes
in 2007 found that the average expenditures for delivery raged from
$7,205 to $10,958 with an average out of pocket expense of $463 -
$523 by the woman. That does not include lost wages due to maternity
leave, sickness due to pregnancy, recovery time, and nursing.
The value of health insurance to both
employee and employer is not only in the dollars to buy it, but in
keeping a person well enough to work with as few missed days as
possible. Limiting coverage of birth control and of abortion hugely
decreases the value of a health insurance policy for women because it
does not help her prevent conditions that can greatly increase her
missed work days, including pregnancy, delivery, nursing, child
illness days, and menstrual issues. Prenatal care, delivery,
recovery, nursing, and postnatal care can add up to several months
off work, a huge economic disadvantage for women in both simple
dollar amount and workplace opportunities.
In 2003, the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ) found the average charged for prenatal
care and postnatal care was $133 per visit including blood tests,
doctor charges, and ultrasounds. The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF)
found that the average cost of prenatal care was about $2,000.
Folic acid vitamins run about $9 a month or $81 during a pregnancy.
Dental exams are encouraged in early pregnancy. Extra ultrasounds
can run $200 each. Any complications will increase these costs
dramatically, up to $1,000. Many of these expenses will be covered
by insurance, but with co-pays and deductibles, the cost of prenatal
care can add up to a major expense.
The KFF and AHRQ calculated the
average number of doctor’s visits for prenatal and post natal care
as 12-14. Private health insurance will not cover the cost of taking
time off work to go to the doctor or lost opportunity that comes from
being out of the office to go to the doctor.
There is a significant gap in pay
between women with children and women without. Women with children
make less money than women with children. A study by Cornell
University in 2005 found that women with children make $11,000
dollars less a year than women without children and that each child
increases the pay gap. Dr. Michelle Budig of the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, found that the difference in pay goes up by
$1,100 per child. Women with children were also found to be less
desirable to employers and were 44% less likely to be hired than a
woman without children. A Government Accountability Office report in
2010 found that female managers without children made more than women
with children.
Men did not experience these same
disparities in fatherhood/non-fatherhood pay or lessened desirability
and in fact had increased advantage by having children. The GAO
report found that for every dollar a man with children makes, a woman
with children doing the same job makes $0.79 cents.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 required
equal pay for men and women doing the same work. The Equal Pay Act
and subsequent legal cases have determined that pay is not limited to
salary but includes benefits like vacation, sick leave, gasoline
allowances, life and health insurances.
Insurance plans for public sector
and/or private sector employees are prohibited from providing
abortions in twenty four states. The women who are in the federal
government’s employ are not allowed to choose an insurance plan
that covers abortion. Several states are proposing legislation that
would allow companies to opt out of covering contraceptives if they
have a moral objection. The federal government has allowed
exceptions to be created for religious organizations who have a moral
objection to contraceptives. These laws limit the compensation of
women to lower than that of a man doing the same job by requiring
their health insurance be less valuable and forcing them to assume a
cost (reproductive health services) that men doing the same work do
not have to assume.
In states where women previously had
birth control and abortion coverage their policy loses value, thus
lowering the value of their compensation packages. There are no
reported cases of employers increasing the pay of women in their
employ to compensate for the lost value or insurance companies
lowering the cost for the lost service. That means that every woman
who has lost reproductive health coverage has taken an substantial
pay cut.
Women who did have insurance and women
who previously did not have coverage but enter a company that does,
will be making substantially less than men doing the same work
because the overall value of their compensation packages will always
be less than that of a man.
Choosing not to have children can be an
economic and professional decision. Not only do mothers get paid
less, once a woman has children she would be less able to leave her
job and find suitable employment making future mobility or increased
pay by finding a new employer less possible. This lack of mobility
and lower pay makes birth control and abortion coverage an even more
valuable benefit to women.
The issue of private birth control and
abortion coverage has been mired in a bog of religious dogma,
political stances, and heated moralistic language. It is however, an
important economic issue assuring equal pay for equal work.
Ww2 labor wages limitation
States that limit compensation
8,000 per person 2009
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-204_162-4824163.html
Cost of birth control
Birth Control Calculator
Cost of abortion
General stats
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/RecessionFP.pdf
Equal Pay Act of 1963
Cornell University Study of Women’s
Pay
GOA Report about motherless managers
March of Dimes Study
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