Menopause Care and the Cost of Policy: A Perspective

I am so glad we are finally talking about menopause and perimenopause out loud.We are recognizing that being 30 and beyond comes with real physiological changes that can make us feel a little bonkers at times. Hot flashes, brain fog, mood swings—they’re real, they matter, and they deserve attention beyond Instagram memes.

Halle Berry made headlines calling out Gavin Newsom for vetoing a bill aimed at improving menopause care in California. And yes, Sunny Hostin tried to defend him, framing it as cost management: healthcare premiums are going up, and Newsom is asking for a “tailored” bill. Meanwhile, Alyssa Farah Griffin correctly pointed out that women’s healthcare isn’t just about fertility—it has to span the full sweep of our lives, through perimenopause, menopause, and beyond.

Here’s my take: we need policy that actually meets women where we are, not some badly written compromise because a governor wants to keep numbers on a spreadsheet pretty. Women’s healthcare has been an afterthought in this country for decades. FDA-approved treatments for conditions that affect women exclusively? Almost nonexistent for a huge chunk of modern medicine’s history. For decades, research ignored us because women’s issues weren’t “economically important.” Birth control aside, the science just wasn’t there. And now we’re supposed to cheer when a bill is vetoed under the guise of cost control? Fuck that.

Newsom is a piece of crap! Who was the first guest on his podcast? Who else has he platformed in a performative effort to “reach across the aisle”? Don’t get it twisted, this isn’t about public health, it’s optics. And now he gets to hide behind spreadsheets while women who are literally living this get told: sorry, maybe next session.

We are here. We’re having hot flashes. We’re navigating perimenopause and menopause in real time. We deserve care, research, and policy that recognizes our entire life cycle not excuses or half-measures. And yes, I’m going to be loud about it, because history tells us if women don’t scream for what we need, it just doesn’t get done.