Neglect of Women’s Health in the US: A Cost Paid by Future Generations
TL/DR –
The US is accused of neglecting women’s health, with the cost being passed on to future generations. The National Strategy to Close the Women’s Health Gap, endorsed by 37 medical organizations, proposes a $20 billion federal investment over the next decade to address neglect in women’s health research. The lack of investment, characterized by only 8.8% of National Institutes of Health (NIH) spending on research grants going to women’s health research, results in delayed diagnoses, limited treatment options, or inadequate care for women, which has wider societal and economic impacts.
The US is making unacceptable decisions regarding women’s health, leading to an ongoing neglect of women’s health research. Such neglect, coupled with an undervaluation of healthcare providers focused on women, results in a flawed system that pushes the cost onto future generations, including today’s daughters. However, this can be reversed through policy decisions.
Recently, 37 medical organizations endorsed the National Strategy to Close the Women’s Health Gap, calling for a federal investment of $20 billion over ten years to rectify the neglect in women’s health research. This strategy requires immediate attention from Congress.
Addressing the issue in women health’s is not about providing special treatment to women. It aims to rectify a national failure impacting every American. Women, often serving as mothers, daughters, workers, caregivers, business owners, are also frequently the primary healthcare coordinators for entire families. The consequences of delayed diagnoses, limited treatment options, or inadequate care for women ripple across households, workplaces, schools, and the economy.
Fiscal statistics from 2013 through 2023 reveal that only 8.8 percent of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant funds were allocated for women’s health research. This imbalance results in conditions affecting millions of women receiving inadequate attention, limited treatment options, and slower scientific progress.
Seeing the Consequences Every Day
Women often battle untreated conditions like pelvic pain, menopause, hormonal disorders, and sexual dysfunction for too long. Such delay in care results in prolonged suffering, disease progression, higher healthcare costs, and lost opportunities for early intervention.
Furthermore, according to Medscape’s 2026 Physician Compensation Report, obstetrician-gynecologists earn significantly less than urologists on average, even though OB-GYNs manage emergencies, high-risk pregnancies, and major surgeries while providing care for both mother and baby. This disparity creates healthcare access issues.
Longer Waiting Times, Less Maternity Care
Access problems can lead to longer waits for appointments, fewer specialists, hospital closures, and reduced access to maternity care. These issues amplify for women already facing unequal access to care, particularly black women who experience significantly worse maternal outcomes compared to their white counterparts.
Immediate action is required to invest in research, modernize reimbursement, strengthen access to evidence-based care, and build a healthcare system that treats women’s health as vital. Without such measures, we risk escalating physician shortages, slowing scientific progress, increasing healthcare costs, and forcing another generation of women to fight for their health concerns to be taken seriously.
Congress should fund the National Strategy to Close the Women’s Health Gap, and health systems need to reevaluate reimbursement policies that discourage physicians from entering women’s health. It’s time to treat women’s health as a national priority.
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