As more and more employers downsize their full-time employees in favor of part-time or temporary workers, many women are finding themselves without health insurance benefits. While being uninsured is a frightening situation for all women, it?s even more so for those who do not have the money for family planning needs or for annual well-woman exams and screenings, where early detection can mean the difference between life or death.
Several state programs seek to fill the gaps by providing eligible low-income women with access to regular women?s health screenings, family planning, birth control and treatment for breast or cervical cancer. But, providers say, many women do not realize they?re eligible for help. Here are a trio of programs available to low-income, uninsured women who qualify.
The Texas Women?s Health Program
In its third year, the Texas Women?s Health Program has already provided tens of thousands of eligible low-income women with free gynecological exams and screenings and family planning services. The program covers one exam per year, including birth control, and women must re-apply for benefits each year.
Locally, two clinics currently accept the program:
• Planned Parenthood of Lufkin, 205 Shands Drive, Lufkin, (936) 634-8446 or 1-800-230-7526.
• The University of Texas Medical Branch Regional Maternal and Child Health Program, 206 Mims Plaza, Nacogdoches, (936) 560-0515.
Applications are available at either of these locations, at the local Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program (WIC) office, by calling 2-1-1 or online at
www.hhsc.state.tx.us/womenshealth.htm.
To qualify for the Texas Women?s Health Program, women must meet the following criteria:
• Must be 18 to 44 years of age
• Must be a legal citizen of the United States
• Must live in Texas
• Cannot currently receive full Medicaid benefits, CHIP or Medicare Part A or B
• Cannot be currently pregnant
• Cannot be sterile, infertile or unable to get pregnant due to medical reasons
• Must not have private health insurance that covers family planning services, unless filing a claim on the health insurance would cause physical, emotional or other harm from a spouse, parent, or other person
• Must meet monthly family income requirements
Breast and Cervical Cancer Services Program
Funded in part by the Centers for Disease Control, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Services program offers clinical breast examinations, mammograms, pelvic examinations and PAP tests at low or no cost to eligible low-income women. Since its inception in 1991, more than 3.3 million women nationally have received early detection services through BCCS, with more than 160,000 diagnosed with either breast cancer, cervical cancer or precancerous lesions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More information about the program, including applications, is available at local BCCS providers. In Angelina and Nacogdoches counties, those providers are:
• Memorial Health System of East Texas, 1201 W. Frank St., Lufkin (936) 639-7454
• Planned Parenthood of Lufkin, 205 Shands Drive, Lufkin (936) 634-8446
• The University of Texas Medical Branch Regional Maternal and Child Health Program, 206 Mims Plaza, Nacogdoches (936) 560-0515
• Eastside Community Clinic, 1401 South University Drive, Nacogdoches (936) 561-5668
To qualify for the Breast and Cervical Cancer Services program, women must meet the following criteria:
• Be considered low-income (at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Income guidelines)
• Must be uninsured
• Must be ages 18 to 64 years old
• High priority populations: Breast cancer; ages 50 to 64. Cervical cancer; ages 18 to 64.
Medicaid for Breast and Cervical Cancer
For women who are diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer, the Medicaid for Breast and Cervical Cancer expansion program provides access to cancer treatment for women who qualify for the program. Applications and more information about the program are available at the BCCS providers listed above.
