Addressing the health care gap for working women

(Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative for Economic) – Cervical cancer is one of the most treatable cancers if detected early. No one should die from this disease, however, 4,360 women in the United States are estimated to die from cervical cancer in 2024 – and here in Mississippi, Black women are almost one and a half times more likely to die of the disease than White women with disparities increasing at alarming rates as they age.& & Related Stories As one of nine Community-Based Researchers with the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative for Economic and Social Justice and Human Rights Watch, I conducted 21 interviews with Black women from Bolivar County about their experiences accessing reproductive health care, as well as their knowledge about the cervical cancer disease and prevention. One interview I continue to revisit in my mind was with Renee N. (pseudonym), who recounted her tragic tale about her difficulties paying for critically reproductive health care services.Renee went without it for five years. As a working woman, she made too much for Medicaid and the health care expenses were too high. As one may imagine she faced difficult choices between paying for medical care or covering essential household...