"Women need more health care, but also are more likely to be poor. Health care costs threaten their health and economic security. Women are more likely than men to require health care throughout their lives. They are more likely to have chronic conditions that require ongoing medical treatment. They are more likely, on average, to use prescription drugs. Certain mental health problems, like depression, affect twice as many women as men. Throughout their reproductive years, regardless of whether they have children, women require substantially more contact with medical providers than men their age.
This means women face more costs. Indeed, a greater share of women’s income is consumed by out-of-pocket health care costs. But on average, women have lower incomes than men—in part due to pay inequities—and are more likely to live in poverty or extreme poverty than men. More than 16 million women lived in poverty in 2016; 21.4 percent of black women, 22.8 percent of Native women, 18.7 percent of Latina women, and 10.7 percent of Asian women. The poverty rate for families with children headed by women is higher than those headed by men or those headed by married couples."
~ Gretchen Borchelt"The Impact Poverty Has on Women’s Health"
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