(Co)Operation

A Stakes Game Where You’re the Patient

Your health depends on a system allowing optimal choices for you and your family.

If there are no doctors or hospitals nearby, or if physicians can’t provide needed information and care, options diminish.

If you forgo preventive care due to excessive distance or cost, health diminishes.

Expensive emergency care can result, impacting your wellbeing and pocketbook.

Healthcare Choice

Informed Decisions

Do you have the information you need to make appropriate decisions about your care?

Legislative Barriers

Do the laws allow you to find and receive the care you need?

Affordability

Do you have insurance and/or the funds to get the care you need?

Healthcare Access

Facility Presence

Is there a clinic or hospital close by?

Physician Availability

Are the necessary specialists able or willing to work in your area?

Financial Freedom

Do you have the financial means to access appropriate care?

Healthcare Quality & Cost

Preventive Care

Are there early intervention opportunities to prevent worsening health and an increase in treatment costs?

Social Supports

Are there full-spectrum wellness supports in the community to bolster individual health?

When legislation breaks the healthcare system,
patients pay the price.

  • Informed Decisions

    “I wanted to just have a c-section. But the doctors talked to me gently, laid out my options and said, ‘Listen, we’re here for you. If things go south, we can do a c-section and have him safely in a matter of minutes. But we want to give you the chance to deliver him vaginally.’ I’m so grateful that they gave me that strength and that ability to safely have him.”

  • Legislative Barriers

    “He sat with me while I wept and mourned what I already perceived as a pregnancy loss. This would never be a baby. When I pulled myself together enough to be rational, he handed me a piece of paper that had a few out-of-state clinic phone numbers listed and said, ‘good luck.’”

  • Facility Access

    “I think about what could have happened had I been further from a hospital with my situation. What could have happened to both me and my baby? It so quickly turned into a life-threatening situation for both.”

  • Physician Availability

    “The kind receptionist explained that it was Dr. K’s last week in the clinic, there were no appointments available, and she was moving away from Sandpoint. I wasn’t pregnant, nor asking for an abortion, yet because of the very restrictive laws in Idaho, I now have no gynecologist.”

  • Preventive Care

    “I have these symptoms. I don’t know if they’re perimenopause, if they’re treatable, if I should even attend to them. My primary care physician has been dismissive and we no longer have gynecologists here. Where would I even begin in trying to find an in-network doctor with room in her practice? So I’ll just soldier on.”

  • Social Support

    “I’m very fortunate that I have the time and a supportive family and supportive partner. There are a lot of people out there that don’t have that same support or the resources to have the birth that they want, or even be able to explore options.”

  • Affordable Care

    “With sharp abdominal pains, she decided to go to the local emergency room because of the distance she would otherwise have to drive to reach an OB-GYN’s office. The visit cost her over $475 out of pocket. The copay for an ultrasound appointment with an OB-GYN would have cost her $23.”

Co-Operation News, Studies & Stats

  • Brazen Disregard for the Will of Idahoans: Senate Passes Damaging Legislation That Will Strip Health Care From Thousands

    fightcancer.org - March 11, 2025

    The article discusses the Idaho Senate's passage of House Bill 345, which introduces detrimental changes to the state’s Medicaid expansion. These changes, including work-reporting requirements and increased out-of-pocket costs, would create significant barriers to health care access, particularly for low-income individuals and those with serious illnesses like cancer.

    Advocates, including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), express disappointment, highlighting the bill's potential to strip health care from thousands of Idahoans, and urge Governor Brad Little to veto it. The bill's passage comes despite public opposition, and it threatens to undo progress made through Medicaid expansion.

  • An Intersectional Approach to Understanding Barriers to Healthcare for Women

    nih.gov - October 23, 2022

    The article "An Intersectional Approach to Understanding Barriers to Healthcare for Women" explores how sociodemographic factors like race/ethnicity, marital status, income, education, and insurance status affect women's access to healthcare. It uses intersectionality as a lens to analyze how these factors uniquely impact women, especially women of color.

    Data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (2005-2015) show that Hispanic women face higher odds of healthcare barriers than White women, while Black women encounter fewer barriers. The study emphasizes the importance of addressing racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities to improve healthcare access and outcomes for women.

  • Idaho Wants to Jail Professors for Teaching About Abortion

    aclu.org - August 8, 2023

    The article from the ACLU discusses Idaho's "No Public Funds for Abortion Act" (NPFAA), a law that threatens professors at public universities with imprisonment if they teach or discuss abortion in a manner that could be seen as promoting it. This law, which prohibits the use of public funds to "promote" or "counsel in favor of abortion," is leading to widespread censorship in academic settings.

    Professors are avoiding topics on abortion to avoid legal consequences, which hinders academic freedom. The ACLU is suing to challenge the law, arguing it violates professors' First Amendment rights and stifles essential discourse on abortion in Idaho’s higher education system.

  • Federal Court Rules Idaho Officials Will Not Enforce Abortion Censorship Law Against Public University Professors

    aclu.org - July 3, 2023

    A federal court ruled that Idaho's No Public Funds for Abortion Act (NPFAA), which criminalized the use of public funds to promote or counsel in favor of abortion, will not be enforced against public university professors' academic speech. This ruling came after a lawsuit from six professors and two teachers' unions, with the ACLU representing them.

    The Idaho attorney general clarified that the law would not apply to academic discussions of abortion, which allowed professors to resume teaching and researching the topic without fear of prosecution. The court affirmed that the law's attempt to censor academic speech violated the First Amendment. This decision reflects ongoing efforts to protect free speech and academic freedom in the wake of abortion-related legislation in Idaho.

The Boards

  • Your Body Is a Battleground

    Legal barriers to reproductive healthcare over time.

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  • Women Weaving Community

    Historical contributions of women to our community.

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  • Maternal Mortality in the US

    A look at maternal mortality rates and contributing factors.

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  • Shame, Stigma, Silence

    The moral and social dimensions of gynecology.

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  • Undervalued, Under-treated, Under-Studied

    How we systemically undervalue women's healthcare.

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  • (CO)Operation

    How different care options play out in one's life.

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  • Map of Gynecologia

    The previously uncharted wilderness of Women’s healthcare.

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  • The Future

    What do you want to see for the future in the state of Idaho?

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  • BGH Birth Stories

    Personal accounts and birth stories at Bonner General Hospital.

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