Regarding Michelle Andrews’s July 7 Insuring Your Health column [“She’s on a parent’s plan, but that doesn’t mean she’s covered,” Health]:
I was surprised to read that many insurance companies do not provide prenatal coverage for dependent children.
This seems to be yet another example of how our society consistently puts our adolescents in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.
On the one hand, we have to fight to get teens access to affordable contraceptives; on the other, when they end up pregnant, we have to fight to get them the health care that can help ensure a healthy outcome for both mother and baby.
While I work hard as a physician to ensure my adolescent patients make responsible decisions about sex, I have seen enough to know that teenage pregnancy is much too common, particularly in our city. Teen pregnancy costs our country $11 billion annually. Much of this cost is due to poor health outcomes for children born to young parents and could be reduced through improved prenatal care.
It is truly appalling and shortsighted that a young woman and her family would have to add the substantial expense of necessary medical care to the already difficult situation of an unplanned pregnancy.
Krishna Upadhya, Washington
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