Dear editor, The national health care reform debate has become increasingly complicated and contentious. But as President Barack Obama eloquently stated in his health care speech to Congress, “The time for bickering is over.

The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action. Now is the time to deliver on health care.” I agree completely. I believe that now is the time to refocus on real people who need real health care. For communities like ours, local health centers are where many people turn for trusted health care. Community health centers, like Planned Parenthood-Shasta-Diablo’s Napa Health Center, often serve as an entry point for essential health care needs.

Today, one in four women who receive contraceptive care does so at a women’s health center. One in six who obtain a Pap test or a pelvic exam does so at a women’s health center. And one-third of women who receive counseling, testing or treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, seek those services at a women’s health center.

Family planning is essential health care. Particularly during difficult economic times, when people are losing jobs and health insurance, these basic health care services give women the tools they need to protect and support their families. This is particularly true when you consider that women of child-bearing age spend a remarkable 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men, in part because of reproductive health-related needs.

Protecting community health providers in any national health care reform is fundamental to solving provider access issues and ensuring that Americans, including those of us in Napa, can access trusted providers wherever they live. Under health care reform, women must have access to reproductive health care and their women’s health provider. Women should not be worse off after health care reform than they are today.

I am one of the millions of women who desperately need family planning. Let’s make a difference today.

Eva Hernandez / Napa