California Has Room To Improve on Women’s Access to Care, Office of Women’s Health Chief Says

California "is on par" with the rest of the nation in terms of women's access to health care, but the state "still has a long way to go" to eliminate barriers to care, Elizabeth Saviano, chief of the state Office of Women's Health, told participants this weekend at the ninth annual Women's Health Conference 2020. Saviano noted that California has made advances in women's access to health care, including reducing the number of uninsured women, allowing women to obtain emergency contraception without a prescription and covering abortions for low-income women through state Medicaid funding. But more than two million California women remain uninsured, many of whom are foreign-born and face "economic barriers," Saviano said. She noted that in 2000, almost 36% of the state's uninsured women were Hispanic, and most could not speak English and had annual incomes lower than $20,000. During the March 16 conference, more than 500 women discussed various health issues, including stress reduction and menopause (Brice, Associated Press, 3/16).