This diary started out as a comment on this diary.
So the Ladies of the GOP have decided that women around the country really, really don't want to talk about equal pay and what they REALLY want to discuss is That Simply Awful Obamacare that My Harry/George/Newt Has Been Going On About.
You know, GOP Ladies, you're quite right. Thanks for ladysplaining my concerns for me. So do let's talk to American women about Obamacare!
But let's do it in a quiet room, behind the big orange Chee-to.
So you want to talk to American women about Obamacare? Golly, so do I.
So let's start by talking about how it is no longer legal for a woman to be charged MORE than a man for the exact same insurance coverage - thanks to Obamacare. (And you know, with me earning that 85%-of-a-man's-salary-for-the-same-job and it's that high only because I'm a white woman, that's a big economic relief.)
Let's talk about the fact that a woman's children can stay on her insurance to the age of 26 - which is really really helpful in an economy where it's SO hard for some of the kids to find jobs, and certainly no jobs that offer health insurance (oh, by the way, TOTALLY not helped by your Republican reps refusing to pass jobs bills). Again, thanks to Obamacare.
Let's talk about the major dent paying out-of-pocket for birth control USED to put in so many womens' smaller-than-a-man's-salary-for-the-same-job paychecks (oh dear, am I harping on that one again? How unladylike of me), but which is now 100% covered by insurance - thanks to Obamacare.
Let's talk about women in their 40s having their first mammograms - because they are now 100% covered, just like contraception. All thanks and praise to the Big O.C.!
Let's talk about women who no longer quietly hope that the 5-year-old's cough will go away and not turn into a 6-figure ER visit and hospital stay for pneumonia (a 6-figure ER visit we ALL wind up paying for, I should add) - because before Obamacare they couldn't afford to walk into a doctor's office for a $10 bottle of pills that would have taken care of the problem at the outset.
Let's talk about battered women no longer having their boyfriends or husbands' abusive behavior called a "pre-existing condition" and used to keep them from getting insurance for them or their children.
Let's talk about a whole lot of women suddenly seeing a major change in the affordability of their health insurance, thanks to the exchanges on Obamacare - in some cases having $500-1000 more per month no longer needed to pay it! That money goes into utilities, rent, groceries and even luxuries - which is SO good for the businesses that make luxuries, isn't it? Why, with that extra money every month it's almost like getting a raise.
And by all means, GOP ladies, let's talk about the fact that with that economic relief - not QUITE as good as equal pay but darned nice - some women might be able to quit one of their part-time jobs. They can learn what it's like to sleep a full 8 hours a night, to eat good fresh food they can afford, to spend time with loved ones... to think about how badly things have gone for so many for so long, and to realize just who was fighting so hard to maintain the status quo. And they'll be good and rested so they can read up, research, take action, and even run for office to change things around here. Think of all the American women who'll benefit economically and politically from Obamacare!
So let's talk Obamacare, ladies!
...Ladies? Ladies?