Dania Palanker, Senior Counsel

Dania is a Senior Counsel for Health and Reproductive Rights. Her work focuses primarily on implementing health reform and expanding access to quality, affordable health care for women and their families. Prior to joining the Law Center, Dania worked for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Starting her work at SEIU in the research department, she became interested in expanding access to health care to low income families and spent a few years as Deputy Administrator of a health benefit program at SEIU, working to provide affordable health insurance to previously uninsured low wage workers and their families. After the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), she worked on implementing the law as Associate Director of Health Policy. Her background in the ACA includes insurance reforms, coverage expansions and delivery system reform, with particular expertise in employer benefits and insurance reforms. She is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Expert in: Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Medicaid & Other Public Funding, Health Care & Reproductive Rights
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My Take

Between School and Job, Where is there Health Care?

Posted by Dania Palanker, Senior Counsel | Posted on: March 28, 2012 at 11:23 am

Transitioning from school to the workforce can be a very difficult time. I remember when finished graduate school and made the decision to move to Washington, DC and sign a lease on an apartment even though I didn’t have a job. Access to health care is one more thing to worry about. But today, as the Supreme Court hears arguments on the health care law, I think about all the young women who will have one less thing to worry about when they graduate.

I recently met Rebekah Horowitz, a very smart and talented woman who has been volunteering with the Law Center while she looks for a job. She shared with me her thoughts on being a recent graduate and the impact the health care law will have on women in her position:

“In 2011, I finished my JD/MPH program in Philadelphia. In spite of my education, I am currently unemployed. My hope is that fact will soon change and it is likely that when I do get a job, I will receive health insurance through my employer. In the meantime, I have been keeping a close watch on the health care law and its impact on unemployed women.

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Tags: Affordable Care Act (ACA), Health Care, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | 1 comment

New Options for Those with Chronic Illness

Posted by Dania Palanker, Senior Counsel | Posted on: March 20, 2012 at 03:03 pm

Having a chronic illness is not easy. You have doctor appointments. Prescriptions to fill. Medical bills to sort through. Lab tests. Physical therapy exercises. Special diets. In some ways, a chronic illness can feel like a full-time job.

Ay, there’s the rub.

A chronic illness can feel like a full-time job, but millions of Americans depend on a full-time job for health insurance. So those of us with a chronic illness are often juggling two jobs – the one that pays the bills and provides the insurance and the one that racks up the bills and uses the insurance.

But what are we to do?

The individual insurance market is not a friendly place for the chronically ill. Once I had that first asthma attack as a child, the likelihood of getting coverage in the individual market took a nose dive.

The grass is not always greener on another plan. It’s difficult to give up a good employer sponsored plan when you don’t know what you will end up with. Access to my former employer’s insurance was an important factor in my decision to go to law school at night because I couldn’t take the chance that a student health plan wouldn’t cover my illness.

But things are changing.

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Tags: Affordable Care Act (ACA), Health Care, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | 2 comments

A Blunt Instrument for Harming Women’s Health

Posted by Dania Palanker, Senior Counsel | Posted on: February 29, 2012 at 11:15 am

The Senate is expected to vote this week on the Blunt Amendment – an amendment to the Highway Transportation Bill that would strip away women’s access to health care as promised through the health care law.  

Chiseling Away Access to Critical Preventive Services

The barriers women face to obtaining affordable health care jeopardize their health. To help address cost barriers that keep individuals from seeking critical preventive health care and ensure all women and their families have access to that care, the health care law established that certain evidence-based preventive services and screenings be covered with no cost-sharing.  

But, if the Blunt Amendment becomes law, employers and health insurance companies can deny access to lifesaving preventive care, including:

  • Mammograms
  • Pap Smears
  • Colonoscopies
  • Annual Wellness Visits
  • HPV immunizations
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Tags: Barriers to Reproductive Care, Health Care Reform, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | Add new comment

Women’s Health is Essential Health

Posted by Dania Palanker, Senior Counsel | Posted on: February 03, 2012 at 10:55 am

In 2014, all health insurance plans in the individual or small group market will have to cover a core set of Essential Health Benefits. This means that when a woman becomes pregnant, she won’t have to worry that her insurance doesn’t cover maternity care. Whether she gets coverage through a small business employer, on the individual market, or the new health insurance marketplaces called exchange – she will know that maternity care and other important health services for women are considered essential.

The components of the Essential Health Benefit package are one of the most important parts of the health care law because they are intended to correct longstanding discriminatory practices that women face in the vast majority of states. The National Women’s Law Center submitted comments on the Essential Health Benefits requirements of the Affordable Care Act to make sure these discriminatory practices are put to an end and the health needs of women are met.

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Tags: Affordable Care Act (ACA), Health Care, Health Insurance, Maternity Care & Leave, Health Care Reform, Pregnancy Rights, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | Add new comment

My Health Is Not a Pork Chop

Posted by Dania Palanker, Senior Counsel | Posted on: February 02, 2012 at 12:00 pm

I don't expect pork chops at a Jewish barbecue. I also never expected pork chops in my law school cafeteria. What does that have to do with my access to health care? It's a long story...

I decided to go to law school just months after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Scared, in pain, and facing a possible progression of my condition, I realized if I was going to go to law school, I had to go now. I started to research law schools and quickly realized something — I didn't really have a choice of schools.

The fibromyalgia diagnosis meant I couldn't give up my health insurance — student insurance may not have covered my needs. Keeping my health insurance meant I couldn't give up my job. Luckily, I lived in a metropolitan area with four top tier law schools offering part-time programs. Great! Except two of the schools were too far from work for me to make it on time for classes. So that leaves two options.

At this point, it's November 2003. I don't have time to study for the December LSAT exam, so I register for the February exam and plan to apply for the 2004-05 school year. Great! Except one of the two remaining schools won't accept the February exam for this application cycle. I could wait a year, but when you're terrified that you might wake up one day with so much pain that you will have to file for disability, a year is a very long time. So I apply to the remaining option.

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Tags: Health Insurance, Family Planning, Health Care Reform, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | 1 comment