There couldn't be a Republican health care bill that doesn't continue the War on Women—because there can't be a Republican anything that isn't a direct assault on women's rights, or women’s health, or women’s bank accounts. And Ryancare is pretty much all three.
In short, if the House GOP plan were signed into law as-is, women could face financial repercussions for being poor, or for using birth control, or for not using birth control, or for giving birth, or for having children who need medical care. How many iPhones does an out-of-pocket Cesarean Section cost? [...]
Stephanie Glover, senior policy analyst at the National Partnership for Women and Families, lays out the AHCA's one-two-three-four punch to women's health thusly: "One by one this would be really bad for women's health. Packaged in a single bill is pretty alarming." […]
It's also not clear who will be paying for health care for poor women and their families under this new plan, if not insurance or government assistance. Money does not simply materialize because Paul Ryan thinks freedom is the ability to buy things. Prior to the passage of the ACA, the poor and uninsured waited to seek health care until it was serious enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room. Then, because they had no way to pay the bill, they'd skip out on it. Which drove the price of other people's health care up. One way or another, unless doctors are suddenly supposed to turn a blind eye to women who can't afford reproductive health care giving birth in the streets, somebody is going to pay for their health care.
Cutting Medicaid, taking Medicaid funding away from Planned Parenthood, getting rid of birth control coverage, getting rid of abortion coverage, and just plain old making health insurance too expensive for everyone—including women who earn less than men—all mean that women are a particular target of Ryancare, and poor women especially. As usual.
