National Partnership for Women & Families
House Republicans’ Repeal Bill is ‘an Affront to Women and Families,’ Ness Says
Statement of Debra L. Ness, President, National Partnership for Women & Families
WASHINGTON, D.C. — March6,2017 —
“House Republicans’ Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal bill would wreak havoc on our health care system by making health coverage more expensive and inadequate for millions of women and families. The shroud of secrecy surrounding the Republicans’ process and their attempt to sneak through a bill that would have such a devastating impact, without allowing anyone to review it, is shameful.
Now that the bill has been revealed, it is clear why Republicans didn’t want people to see it. Their proposal radically overhauls and cuts Medicaid while simultaneously gutting the ACA by repealing financial assistance for low-income families and making it harder for people to afford coverage. It also defunds Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid program, denying 2.5 million people access to essential health care.
The proposal ends the Essential Health Benefits standard, which was a groundbreaking advance for women's access to quality insurance coverage. This provision ensured access to a defined set of benefits in the individual and small group markets that includes coverage for maternity care, prescription drugs, mental health services and more. Under the Republican proposal, we will go back to the days when women struggled to find coverage for maternity care – nearly nine in ten health plans sold in the individual market (88 percent) failed to cover maternity care prior to the ACA. Once again, women would almost certainly be unable to afford coverage that includes maternity care.
Moreover, the Republican bill interferes with women’s ability to make health care decisions by making abortion coverage inaccessible. It would harshen and expand already harmful abortion coverage restrictions, denying women the ability to access the care they need.
The Republican repeal bill is an affront to women and families. It reflects its authors’ determination to deny women access to quality, affordable health care, including the comprehensive reproductive health care and abortion services that are essential to their health, equality and economic security.
This bill takes us back to the days when there were few benefit standards or consumer protections in place – to a time when insurers were the ones who decided what and who they would cover, what doctors we could see, and where we could get care.
We demand an open and transparent process that enables the public to see what’s really in these plans and how it will affect their health and wellbeing. Right now, this Congress seems hell bent on taking health coverage away from tens of millions of people, increasing health care costs for working people, and destroying Medicaid. Our country’s women and families deserve better.”
CONTACT
Lauren Sogor (202) 986-2600
The National Partnership for Women & Families is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group dedicated to promoting fairness in the workplace, access to quality health care and policies that help women and men meet the dual demands of work and family. More information is available at.