Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - October 19, 2007
Christopher Weaver
Maryland slipped into 25th place nationwide from 15th in 2004, in the report card from the National Women's Law Center and Oregon Health and Science University.
The report measured the quality of women's health in 27 categories, such as causes of death and access to care.
"Quite a number of states, including Maryland, are not doing so well," said Amy Allina, a program director for the National Women's Health Network. Access to health care is the major problem, Allina said, adding that poverty and lack of insurance are the biggest barriers women face.
"If women can't get access to health care, it doesn't matter how good your treatment is. They can't get it," she said.
Maryland excelled at screening women for life-threatening diseases, with 83.7 percent of women receiving mammograms and 82 percent getting their cholesterol checked.
The state weighed in strongly on other preventative health, with women eating their fruits and vegetables, seeing the dentist and quitting smoking.
However, the leading causes of death that those screenings and lifestyle changes hope to fend off remain prevalent in the state, which ranks 47th in deaths from breast cancer and 41st in heart disease.
The discrepancy may be caused by poor access to care for Maryland's women, 14.7 percent of whom are uninsured, said Judy Waxman, vice president for health at the National Women's Law Center.
"If someone gets a screening at a health fair, but they're not even eligible for Medicaid, what good does that screening do?"
Under the state's Medicaid rules, single adults must earn less than $350 a month to receive coverage.
The federal health insurance program for the poor, which is administered by the state, is more generous to children, who can receive care even if their parents earn 300 percent of the poverty line, or $61,950 per year for a family of three.
Virginia moved up in this year's report card from 26th to 23rd place nationwide, with declines in breast cancer, strokes and heart disease.
Washington held its ground in 44th, failing in 14 of the 27 categories.
The District fielded the highest rates of heart disease and breast cancer deaths, as well as HIV/AIDS, in the nation.
"We're really promoting testing and counseling [for AIDS]. We administered 10,000 tests last year," said Chip Lewis, a spokesman for Whitman-Walker Clinic, which treats HIV/AIDS patients in the city.
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