Urinary incontinence affects roughly 25 million people in the United States. It’s extremely important that this medical condition is covered by insurance policies — especially in the near future. It’s projected that by the year 2050, roughly 41.3 million women will have urinary incontinence.

Insurance is an essential part of life because we can never know what’s going to happen — and it’s better to be prepared and covered than left out in the cold. When it comes to workers’ compensation, approximately 94% of the American workforce (140 million U.S. employees) are covered. Certain health deficiencies, however, are not as easily insured.


According to Cosmopolitan, because of the confusion with postpartum pain, women who suffer severe urinary incontinence after pregnancy run the risk of not being sufficiently covered or taken care of.


“I’ve spoken to many women about their own postpartum horror stories — untreated cracked ribs and pelvic bones, persistent incontinence, spinal fluid leakage leading to throbbing headaches, uterine infections, and swollen labia that make sitting impossible,” said Jo Piazza, a writer and recent mother who recently suffered intense pain after giving birth. “The common thread was that doctors initially waved away these concerns when the women informed them they knew something wasn’t right with their bodies — until they forcefully advocated for themselves.”


In addition to medical postpartum mishandling, a common surgical tool to battle urinary incontinence is under siege after numerous reports of severe pain.


CTV News reports that mesh, a product made from long narrow strips of polypropylene, is not helping to prevent incontinence, but rather worsening pain for women.


“The pain got worse, and worse, and worse, and finally it was like my insides were ripping out, I couldn’t pee hardly at all,” said Chrissy Brajcic,” who was in good health after the birth of her second child, but experienced minor urinary incontinence. “I can’t walk, I can’t take my kids to the park. Every little thing I do is such a huge ordeal to even get myself out of the house.”


Boracic has now filed a lawsuit for over $5 million against Johnson and Johnson, Ethicon and Gynecare Worldwide, the makers of the surgical mesh that was implanted in her by her doctors.


Unfortunately, her severe pain is not such a rarity. More than 100,000 cases against surgical mesh makers have been filed by U.S. patients.


“There are women in wheelchairs or walking with sticks because of this operation. Others with life-altering chronic pain, on cocktails of high dose medication. Many can no longer work, marriages have broken down and all for a 20-minute, day case operation that was supposed to improve their quality of life,” added Kath Sansom, created of Sling the Mesh, an awareness campaign to warn women about the complications and potential pain after mesh surgery.


The Food and Drug Administration has updated its warning to state that surgical mesh used in these procedures has been reclassified as a high risk device and one that requires much more stringent approval than previously stated.


“I now have pain every day of my life,” added another mother and mesh implant victim. “Not intermittent pain, forever pain.”