Health reform puts women in harm’s way [View All]

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http://www.healthcare-now.org/health-reform-puts-women-in-harms-way/


Health reform puts women in harm’s way

August 31, 2010 by Healthcare-NOW!



By M. Tracey Brooks for the Times Union –

The people of New York and the nation should be outraged at the sacrifices being made in health care reform to the detriment of women. After taking a major hit in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed in March, women’s health care faced three more attacks in July alone.

The health care reform package passed in March contains severe new abortion coverage restrictions. Federal funding of abortion has always been prohibited. The new law, however, severely restricts access to abortion coverage in the insurance exchanges, even for individuals who pay for coverage with their own money.

Women (or their spouses, partners or parents) will have to write one check for abortion coverage and a separate check for the rest of their coverage. Insurance industry experts believe the administrative nightmare of keeping these funds separate will dissuade insurers from maintaining abortion coverage in their plans. Congress sacrificed this important women’s health care benefit to pass the reform package.

Attacks on women’s health care continue. In July, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule to eliminate coverage for abortion in the states’ new temporary high-risk insurance plans, with the exception of rape, incest or to preserve the life of the woman. There is no exception to preserve the health of a woman with such conditions as kidney disease or cancer.............................