Health Law’s Guarantees For Women On Breastfeeding Sometimes Fall Short
The law called for employers to provide "reasonable" time and private space for new mothers to express breast milk, but there are loopholes. Some Pennsylvania lawmakers would like to find a way for the state to buttress the provisions. Also, the effort to get young adults to buy insurance and to use the health care system is still stumbling.
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Laws To Help Working Moms Who Breastfeed Still Meet Resistance
Under the guidelines of 2010's Affordable Care Act, employers must provide employees who need to express breast milk a "reasonable" amount of time and a private space that is not a bathroom. As [Ruth] Rodriguez's case shows, the mere existence of a law doesn't mean conditions change immediately, but it does give workers the option to contact the Department of Labor for help. The ACA guidelines, however, largely exclude salaried employees and management. So Philadelphia lawmakers in 2014 passed similar guidelines to cover all people working in the city. (Pompilio, 9/15)
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Doctors, Dentists Seek New Ways To Reach Millennial Patients
According to the 2015 Investing in the Health and Well-Being of Young Adults report, only 55 percent of Americans ages 18 to 25 visited a doctor's office in 2009 and only 34 percent visited a dentist. There are lots of reasons: feeling invincible, difficulty navigating the health care system, concerns about costs and co-pays, and the inconvenience of making an appointment and seeing a doctor or dentist. Under the [health law], everyone who can afford it is legally obligated to get health insurance or pay a penalty. One of the main reasons some major insurers have cited for leaving the exchanges is the lack of young, healthy people signing up, leaving the exchanges full of older and less healthy people who cost more to cover. (Akman, 9/16)