A.G. Gancarski
Florida’s Governor is discussing the difficulties women have in getting timely attention to their health care concerns, citing an example he knows very well.
During a CNN town hall hosted by Jake Tapper, Ron DeSantis discussed how hard it was for Casey DeSantis to get a mammogram when she suspected she had breast cancer.
On Tuesday night, DeSantis noted that if she hadn’t advocated for herself, she could have had a different outcome, rather than having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 in time to get treatment.
“My wife, she just had a sense. She felt something, she went to see the doctor. The doctor cleared her and then she came back to me and she said, ‘You know, I don’t know.'”
“And I was like, ‘You’re fine’ because like for me, if a doctor told me I’m fine, I would never think twice,” DeSantis continued. “I’d be off to the races, I know, but she had a sense.”
“So she really fought for herself to be able to get a mammogram. And then when, then when she got it, it came back unfortunately with bad news but had she not been willing to do that, who knows what would have ended up happening?”
Casey DeSantis’ experience with doctors and their lack of attention to complaints from women unfortunately is all too common.
The Harvard Medical School notes that “women in pain are much more likely than men to receive prescriptions for sedatives, rather than pain medication, for their ailments. One study even showed women who received coronary bypass surgery were only half as likely to be prescribed painkillers, as compared to men who had undergone the same procedure.”
Women also “wait an average of 65 minutes before receiving an analgesic for acute abdominal pain in the ER in the United States, while men wait only 49 minutes.”
Furthermore, the write-up notes that a “2000 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that women are seven times more likely than men to be misdiagnosed and discharged in the middle of having a heart attack.”
The Governor announced that Mrs. DeSantis was “cancer free” last year, a heartening declaration after months of uncertainty about her health.
The DeSantis family struggled with making her condition public, and Democratic critics played politics with some of the treatment period, including wondering why the Governor was out of the public eye late last year on at least one day he was with his wife. He spoke of that incident last year.
“A lot of these people, some in the media, but a lot of these politicians who you know are trying to get some traction, they said, ‘Oh, he’s out vacationing’ and all this stuff. It turns out we were down in Tampa doing this treatment and it’s not easy to go through for her and it’s certainly not fun to watch somebody have to go through that, to watch your spouse go through that,” DeSantis said.
10 comments
Marvin M.
December 13, 2023 at 12:32 am
OK. Yes, a lot of what is in this article about women’s health is absolutely true. And needs to be addressed.
However …
I am kinda like, Why did Mrs. DeSantis have to ‘fight’ to get a mammogram? She was 40 for half of 2020 and 41 for all of 2021, so … it’s covered under ACA.
And her hubby was governor at the time, making a good salary, they could have totally afforded to pay for it, so again I ask, what was the “fight”?
Sounds to me like it was “I had to make extra phone calls and arrange extra going to places”.
Guess what? Hundreds of thousands of Floridians are themselves, or who are caring for loved ones, doing that type of fighting every single freeping day! We’re fighting and fighting and fighting and getting really tired.
I’m happy Mrs. DeSantis got the outcome she did, but for God’s sake, take ownership of the situation.
If even the First Lady of Florida is having such a hard time getting care, then it ain’t a stretch of the imagination to suppose tons of Floridians with less means than the first family has, are struggling to get their health care needs met. But we don’t see those stories in the news because of a variety of reasons.
If only there were something Ron DeSantis could do to improve Florida health care (cough cough expand Medicaid, cough cough – for starters). But he’s too busy running for president which he will never be because he won’t even be the Republican nominee.
Flash01
December 13, 2023 at 2:47 pm
My wife and I are under the same state of florida health insurance plan she is.
My wife never has an issue getting it. The facility actually sends her notice reminding her it’s time.
After they then make next year’s appointment for her.
Pam Brown
December 13, 2023 at 5:18 am
I understand that there are women who are uninsured who may not be able to receive health care. I haven’t heard about women who are having issues getting scheduled mammograms.
I began receiving mammograms annually in my 20′ s and I am now in my 60’s. I have never had a problem getting a Mammogram. I have always had my annual exams.
Respectfully,
Pam
.
Michelle H
December 13, 2023 at 8:59 am
What a bunch of bunk. While there is much in the healthcare system that could stand to be improved, getting a mammogram is not an issue. Sounds like just another Ron fishing-for-votes tall tale.
MH/Duuuval
December 13, 2023 at 11:20 am
“So she really fought for herself to be able to get a mammogram.”
Now substitute abortion for mammogram and Dee flips in the “firm No” direction.
Michael K
December 13, 2023 at 1:50 pm
She has excellent health care and exceptional public housing. Pity the tens of thousands of Floridians with no health insurance – because her husband stubbornly refuses to expand Medicaid.
DEBRA
December 13, 2023 at 2:13 pm
Ron is fishing for votes. Poor us had to struggle. E ery doctor on the planet wants their patients to receive mamograms annually. This is another political stunt.
Dont Say FLA
December 13, 2023 at 2:25 pm
And did TinyD have some point they were making in talking about this? Are they going to expand Medicaid in Florida? Will the state be paying for mammograms not covered by insurance? What’s the point here? Are they trying to diminish the concern over difficulties obtaining abortions by diverting to mammograms being difficult to get? What, Rhonda, what? What are you saying, if anything?
Dee
December 13, 2023 at 4:04 pm
DeSantis is lying again. . I have NEVER had trouble getting a mammogram in Florida for 42 years. DeSatan is playing politics again trying to act like he is a savior. Whether I had insurance or not I was able to get a mammogram every year.
STOP WITH THE LIES DESANTIS. You are nothing but a fascist lying narcissist.
Genifer
December 22, 2023 at 8:50 am
I spent more time trying to avoid the atom smasher. I argued with my doctor every year because he insisted I have a mammogram, and I insisted we skip it and do an ultrasound first. Cheaper, easier, and way less painful. He wouldn’t go for it.
Punchline: There is now a recommendation that women have an ultrasound first, followed by a mammogram anything susupicious is visible.
If she had to “fight” for a mammogram that she could have simply paid for and been reimbursed, she must not have been talking to her healthcare provider.
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