An Ignoble Experiment: Tell Republicans: Hands off women's health insurance

2015/02/20

Tell Republicans: Hands off women's health insurance

Republicans attacking women's health care coverage

Tell Republicans in Congress:
"Women deserve coverage for maternity care, birth control and preventive services and to be protected from gender-based discriminatory pricing. Your relentless, partisan attacks on the Affordable Care Act undermine women and their families. "

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Dear Indiana,

When Republicans legislate, women lose. From taking away abortion rights to blocking common sense legislation like equal pay and paid sick leave, the Republican party consistently panders to its extremist base at the expense of women and their families.

The latest attempt to repeal and replace President Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA) proves again that women's health, both physical and financial, is of no concern to Republicans. Their proposal eliminates the ACA's historic expansions of coverage for maternity care and birth control. It also strips away protections designed to end decades of gender-biased pricing in the insurance industry.

Tell Republicans: Don't take maternity care away from women. Click here to sign the petition.

Sen. Richard Burr, Sen. Orrin Hatch, and Rep. Fred Upton recently unveiled their replacement for the Affordable Care Act. Their proposal, the "Patient CARE Act," would significantly roll back the health coverage, guaranteed benefits, and protections women and their families enjoy under the ACA.¹ Here are some of the worst elements of their plan:

It would eliminate the ACA's requirement that insurance plans cover maternity care, birth control, and preventive care like cancer screenings and well-woman visits. While right-wing attacks on birth control coverage have been in the news more recently, Republicans have also lashed out at the idea that maternity care should be covered. They complain that pregnancy is a choice, and that not everyone gets pregnant. During one hearing, former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was asked if she had ever heard of a man getting pregnant.²
It would allow insurance companies to charge women more for health insurance. Before the ACA abolished the practice of "gender rating," women were charged approximately $1 billion per year in higher premiums. Insurance plans charged women up to 85 percent more than men for the same policy – even when maternity services were not covered.
It would force women and their families to pay more for their health care. A portion of employer-covered health benefits would be taxed, impacting the 57 million women who have health insurance through their employer or a family member's employer. Working class families would lose some of the subsidies they receive to buy care, and low-income women would lose access to Medicaid expansion

It's outrageous that, in their zeal to score political points by repealing the ACA, Republicans are willing to do so much damage to women and their families. If enough of us speak out, Republicans will be forced to think twice before passing this bill. Click the link below to sign the petition:

http://act.credoaction.com/sign/ACA_Women?t=5&akid=13185.7925804.YYJcTs

Thanks for standing up for women and their families.

Heidi Hess, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

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