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New provisions of the Affordable Care Act go into effect
Today's new provisions underscore how important it is that we campaign on the positive features of the Affordable Care Act and specifically how they will benefit women.
Women vote at a much higher rate than men and their support will be critical for President Obama's re-election. And there is good news on that front.
Today being a woman stopped being a pre-existing condition.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in March:
... with the passing of this bill, being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing medical condition
Kathleen Sebelius and Nancy Pelosi,
yesterday:
Thanks to the health care law, women will no longer have to put off prevention. No woman should have to choose between seeing her doctor and putting food on the table for her family. Now, many women won't have to make that choice. And soon, women will see even more protections.
In the past, insurance companies could deny women coverage because of anything from being a breast cancer survivor to being pregnant to being a victim of domestic violence. And if we did find coverage, insurers could charge women up to 50% more than men just for being women, even though the plans often didn't cover basic women's health care such as maternity care. One study found that this discrimination cost women $1 billion a year.
So under the health care law, we're banning discrimination against women in the insurance market. In 2014, it will be illegal to deny coverage to someone because of her health status. And it will also be illegal to charge women more than men just because they're women. In other words, being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing condition
Eight Ways Woman benefit from ObamaCare (from the
Center for American Progress):
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, lays out how important re-electing President Obama is for women and women's health:
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, supports President Obama because he believes in women and trusts women to make responsible decisions. She notes the strong contrast between the positions of President Obama and the Republican party leadership who seem to want to put government in between women and their doctors.
As Cecile Richards shares:
"I think the thing that disturbed me, and really frankly hundreds of thousands of women who have contacted us since MItt Romney said he was going to get rid of Planned Parenthood, is that he's putting politics ahead of women's health care access.
Most of the women who come to planned parenthood come because they need preventive care access. They need access to affordable birth control, life saving cancer screenings, and the kind of care we provide. For women their health care doesn't come with a political label. The fact that we're actually having a fight in this country about whether women should have access to birth control is extraordinary. And so it's been wonderful to have President Obama as a champion for access to health care for all women in this country."