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Women’s health

You’re busy working and taking care of your family. Just remember to care for yourself, too. Check with your doctor about what health screenings you need. You can start with your well-woman checkup.

Get your well-woman checkup

Get your well-woman checkup

Getting your well-woman checkup is one of the best things you can do to stay healthy.

At your checkup, your primary care physician (PCP) or gynecologist will give you a:

Breast exam
Pelvic exam
Cervical cancer screening (Pap test)

You might not have any symptoms or signs of problems. But you should still get your well-woman checkup every year. It’s easier to treat problems when you catch them early.

Watch a video about well-woman checkups

This short video explains the well-woman exam and screenings you can get as part of this checkup. It also talks about our covered services for members in Mercy Care.

Or watch the Spanish version.

Ask your primary care physician (PCP) about other screenings
Beyond your well-woman checkup, you’ll want to do other screenings, depending on your age. From your skin to your blood pressure, screenings can help find problems early.

Learn about other screenings your provider may ask you to get.

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Be proactive about family planning

Be proactive about family planning

Family planning can help you manage both the number of children you’d like, as well as the spacing of those children. It can also increase the chances of having a healthy baby. And improve your own health too, even if you decide not to have children.

The goals of family planning services are to improve pregnancy planning and spacing. And to prevent unplanned pregnancy. Here are some types of services:

Contraception (birth control)
Pregnancy testing and counseling
Preconception (before pregnancy) health services to help people get pregnant
Infertility (not being able to get pregnant)
Reproductive health services, including patient education and counseling
Breast and pelvic exams
Screenings for breast cancer and cervical cancer
Sexually transmitted infection (STI) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

Plan your pregnancy

Start planning for your pregnancy as soon as you start thinking about having a baby. You can learn more about how to have a healthy pregnancy.

Check your bone health

After menopause, women begin to lose bone mass. Osteoporosis can result from this loss. Bone strength decreases while the risk of breaking a bone increases. The first symptom of osteoporosis is likely to be a broken bone in the hip, wrist or spine. Usually, people don’t have symptoms or warning signs.

Ask your provider about your bone health at your next well-woman checkup. They may order a test to check your bone mineral density (BMD) if you have things that increase your risk of osteoporosis:

Age: bone loss happens as you age
Body size: slim women and men with thin bones
Family history: if one of your parents has osteoporosis
Hormone changes: go along with aging
Certain medicines: long-term use of specific types
Some health conditions: hormonal disease, gastrointestinal disease, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS, anorexia nervosa and some types of cancer
Race: white and Asian women
Lifestyle: low physical activity and chronic alcohol or tobacco use
Low bone density: you only know through a test of your BMD

You can learn more about bone health and osteoporosis.