A recent KFF Health News article reported that private health insurers have delayed the availability of a revolutionary postpartum depression treatment. Our senior staff attorney Juliana Franco’s letter to the editor in response was published this week. In it, Juliana explains how mental health care providers can use the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act as a tool to support their patients who need time off for appointments or other changes at work. Juliana also shared about her own experience with postpartum depression.
“As one of the 1 in 5 new mothers who struggled with this terrible illness when my own son was born, I can only hope zuranolone is made widely available very soon. As an advocate for the rights of pregnant workers, I hope that mental health care providers are aware that there is another new and revolutionary tool that is at their disposal today,” she wrote.
Read the full letter here: Readers Speak Up About Women’s Health Issues, From Reproductive Care to Drinking – KFF Health News
To learn more about prenatal and postpartum mental health and workplace rights, visit WorkLife Law’s resource at www.pregnantatwork.org/mental-health/.