The Health of Women in the United States Is in a Perilous Place
Deaths from preventable causes are on the rise and deep inequities persist, leading to stark racial differences in maternal mortality and deaths from breast and cervical cancers nationwide. U.S. women have the highest rate of maternal deaths among high-income countries, while Black women are nearly three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women are.
Women’s life expectancy remains at its lowest point since 2006.
These troubling health trends are occurring while women are experiencing the consequences of state policy choices and judicial decisions that limit their access to the full range of health services and reproductive care. The 2022 U.S. Supreme Court case overturning Roe v. Wade has further fractured women’s health care access and dramatically affected the ability of providers to treat pregnancy complications.
Our State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care offers a comprehensive examination of women’s health care in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, using the most recent data to assess how well the health care system is working for women in every U.S. state.
Clearly, women’s health is under threat. That’s why the Commonwealth Fund remains dedicated to tracking trends in women’s health over time and documenting how policy choices and judicial decisions may impact women’s access to timely health care.
There are a number of steps U.S. policymakers can take to substantially improve health and wellness for women of reproductive age. See below for three examples of the types of solutions we’ve proposed in the past year. If they read like something you would find useful, use one of the email signup forms on this page to subscribe to our mailings.
Potential Solutions for Improving Women's Health Care in the U.S.
Ensure all women have access to affordable health care.
U.S. policymakers could extend affordable and comprehensive primary care to all women by expanding on the ACA’s reforms, such as enhancing marketplace plan subsidies and providing coverage for those who fall in the “Medicaid coverage gap.”
Grow and diversify the health care workforce.
Policymakers could take steps to expand the maternal care workforce to include more nurses, midwives, and doulas could improve perinatal and postpartum outcomes, particularly for people experiencing significant inequities in birth outcomes
Expand access to mental health care.
U.S. policymakers could extend the ACA’s requirement to cover essential health benefits, including mental health care, to the large-group employer plans that cover most Americans.
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Recent publications exploring the women's health crisis and solutions to the improve health and wellness for women.
The 2024 State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care is the Fund’s first comprehensive examination of women’s health care in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, based on the latest available data. The Scorecard finds wide gaps between geographic regions and between racial and ethnic groups in deaths among women of reproductive age and in access to essential health services.
Insights into the U.S. Maternal Mortality Crisis: An International Comparison
Pregnancy and childbirth are far more dangerous for American women — especially Black women — than for women in other high-income nations. This report compares maternal health outcomes across Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States and finds the U.S. could learn a lot from other nations’ approaches to maternity care.
