The Affordable Care Act requires that birth control be made available through health plans, in some cases without co-pays or deductibles. That’s prompted religious institutions to object to paying for care that’s not consistent with their values. But Boston College’s recent steps to stop free condom distribution doesn’t involve sponsoring birth control—it involves location. Boston […]
Author: Chloe Bird
Chloe E. Bird, PhD, is a senior sociologist at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization. She is also a Professor of Sociology at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, Associate Editor of Women’s Health Issues, and Deputy Editor of Journal of Health and Social Behavior. Her research focuses on assessing the determinants of gender and racial/ethnic differences in physical and mental health and health care. Dr. Bird is particularly interested in determining how social and physical characteristics of neighborhoods contribute to health disparities. She is Principal Investigator of two National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) funded studies. One assesses neighborhood effects on incident cardiovascular disease among women based on data from the Women’s Health Initiative; the other examines the impact of neighborhoods and behaviors on men’s and women’s cardiovascular mortality using geocoded mortality-linked NHANES data. In her book, Gender and Health: The Effects of Constrained Choice and Social Policies, she and coauthor Patricia Rieker integrate social and biological models to improve understanding of how differences in men’s and women’s lives contribute to differences in their health. This work expands the study of health and health disparities by shedding light on the how decisions beyond the level of the individual shape men’s and women’s opportunities to purse a healthy life.
Making Heart Disease a Women’s Issue
In the past two months, two of my friends–both seemingly healthy women–became unlikely victims of cardiovascular disease. One, a woman who by any textbook definition would be considered at low risk for heart problems, nonetheless suffered a heart attack. Thankfully, she is recovering. The other, a longtime friend and a mentor of mine, tragically passed […]
California Improves on Affordable Care Act By Letting RNs Dispense Birth Control
The debate in several states over women’s reproductive rights and care has implications for the care women will receive under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA provides preventive care, including contraceptive and reproductive services, with no copays. However, several states are attempting to defund Planned Parenthood and otherwise reduce support for […]
Celebrating Birth Control on Mother’s Day
On Mother’s Day, we honor the women in our lives for all they do–meal planning, financial planning and family planning, to name a few. Regrettably, the latter task is going to cost mothers even more, as coverage for reliable birth control and related services comes under increasing challenge in the U.S. Last week, Gov. Jan […]