On September 12, the Endocrine Society joined over 40 leading public health organizations to participate in the Coalition for Health Funding’s third annual Public Health Fair on Capitol Hill.
The Public Health Fair give the Endocrine Society a unique opportunity to reach a wide Congressional audience and to connect with other organizations with similar priorities. In previous years, the Endocrine Society has focused on issues related to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and diabetes.
This year, to highlight that September is Women’s Health Month, the Endocrine Society hosted a booth titled “Women’s Reproductive Health – It’s Complicated” to educate staffers and members of Congress on how the endocrine system plays a role in women’s health. Visitors learned about how the endocrine system is integral to women’s health and about issues such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and its related comorbidities, access to contraception and preventative services, pregnancy, and infertility and its insurance coverage gaps. Endocrine Society staff member Jenni Gingery and her daughter Dana, a “miracle baby” that was conceived with a lot of love, and a little bit of endocrinology also joined the booth. Together, Jenni and Dana were able to demonstrate how endocrine breakthroughs have changed lives and on the importance of insurance coverage for infertility treatments.
As spotlighted in the August issue of Endocrine News, the Society has prioritized women’s health issues and taken a strong stance to support improving and protecting access to care for all women. Working with members of Congress, the Society has encouraged Congress to provide additional funding for PCOS research and endorsed a bill proposed by Senator Corey Booker (D-NJ) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) that would close insurance gaps that do not cover infertility treatment services.
However, plenty of work remains to be done, and the Society continues to campaign for increased funding for the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Research on Women’s Health, advocate for health insurance coverage without lifetime caps or pre-existing conditions exclusions, and support access to no-cost contraception and preventative health services vital to women’s health.
Keep up to date and learn more about how the Endocrine Society continues to work to improve women’s health.
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