Planned Parenthood

Doctor visits can be prohibitively expensive, sometimes even when you have insurance once you add up the high copays and deductibles. So Planned Parenthood is a huge asset to any community. You can go for regular check-​ups, for pregnancy tests, for contraception, for STD testing and they even offer services for men. The draw for me was the sliding scale on their fees. Still, I was nervous about going in for a check-​up not knowing anything about the doctor I would be seeing. Like whether or not it would be a female doctor. I found out they only have female doctors on staff. Actually all the staff members are women, which is pretty cool. Everyone was really nice, especially the doctor, and the bill was super affordable.
All women should have access to affordable healthcare and educational resources on their specific health issues and family planning options. On my visit I learned that while we hear a lot about breast cancer, most women (44%) die from heart disease. It presents differently in men than women and the symptoms are often misdiagnosed as something else. I also learned ten things you can do to prevent it. I think Planned Parenthood gets a bad rap sometimes for giving women options and/​or information that some people don’t want us to have, but that is not the vibe there at all. Nobody pushed any agenda, they were there to listen to what I needed and to help me stay healthy. So if you’ve been putting off your check-​up or ignoring something that might become a problem because you think you can’t afford to see a doctor or you don’t know where to go, check out Planned Parenthood.