Learn. Speak. Act
International recording artist and poet, Michael "MIKE-E" Ellison


Access to Care 101
Learn more about the access to health care issue, why it matters, and what the Society is doing about the problem.


Access to Care 201
This video illustrates the importance of providing access to health care for the uninsured and undersinsured and what the American Cancer Society is doing to help. It addresses some of the questions that have arisen since the organization's campaign began in September 2007.

Women

More than 17 million women are uninsured.
[Source: DeNavas-Walt C, Proctor BD, Lee CH. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau; 2006]

Among workers, women are less likely than men to be eligible for and to participate in their employer’s health plan. This is in part because women are more likely to work part-time, have lower incomes, and rely more on spousal coverage.
[Source: Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Coverage, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, 2004]

Women are more vulnerable to losing their insurance should they become divorced or widowed, because they are more likely than men to be covered as dependents. Women are also at greater risk of losing coverage if their spouse loses his job or if his employer drops family coverage or increases premium and out-of-pocket costs to unaffordable levels.
[Source: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Women’s Health Insurance Coverage Fact Sheet, February 2007]

Employer-sponsored insurance provides coverage to almost two-thirds of women between the ages of 18 and 64. Although women and men have similar rates of job-based coverage overall, women are less likely to be insured through their own job (38 percent vs. 50 percent, respectively) and more likely to have dependent coverage (24 percent vs. 13 percent).
[Source: DeNavas-Walt C, Proctor BD, Lee CH. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau; 2006]