National Women's Law Center

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Contact: Ranit Schmelzer or Adrienne Ammerman, 202-588-5180

EXPANDING CHOICES
NWLC Joins Nation-Wide Coalition for Health Care Reform

( Washington, DC) The National Women's Law Center is proud to announce today that it has joined the steering committee of an unprecedented national effort on health reform, Health Care for America Now.

Our current health care system fails to meet the basic needs of far too many women – and low-income women and women of color are especially at risk. Overall, 18 percent of women are uninsured. Almost a quarter of African American women lack health insurance. More than one-third of Latinas are uninsured.

For those who have health insurance, women are more likely than men to have health coverage which has too many gaps, including large co-pays, life-time limits, and the exclusion of needed services altogether – including some essential reproductive and other health services for women. Their health insurance also leaves them at great financial risk: 1 in 4 women says that she is unable to pay her medical bills. The high cost of care means women are more likely than men to delay or go without needed health care. Women who have to buy insurance directly from health insurers are often charged more than men.

“These facts are distressing, to say the least,” said Marcia D. Greenberger, Co-President of the National Women’s Law Center. “And yet they cannot possibly begin to convey the personal stories of the many women who are forced to make impossible choices: between buying their prescription drugs or putting food on their family’s table, between staying with an abusive spouse or losing health insurance, between losing their home or losing their battle with cancer. No one should have to make such choices. And for those who thank their lucky stars that they have good coverage today, they live in fear that they will lose it tomorrow.”

Health Care for America Now is working toward a bold new solution that gives women real choice and a guarantee of quality coverage they can afford: keeping their current private insurance plan, picking a new private insurance plan, or joining a public health insurance plan. As a member of Health Care for America Now's steering committee, the National Women's Law Center is bringing women's voices to this exciting national movement.

The National Women’s Law Center also works towards this goal through our new health care reform initiative, Reform Matters: Making Real Progress for Women and Health Care. Reform Matters empowers women to be active and vocal advocates in the fight for progressive health care reform by providing them the tools to do so.

The project includes:

Technical advice and informational assistance, including analysis of policy proposals, research and answers to specific questions, written testimony, and more.
A monthly conference call series which provides an ongoing forum for women’s advocates to discuss health care reform, share experiences and questions, and connect with national health policy experts.
A forthcoming toolkit for advocates, outlining the basics of health care reform and exploring reform issues and their impact on women’s access to health care.

Marcia Greenberger’s full statement is available here. To learn more about NWLC’s Reform Matters project visit www.nwlc.org/reformmatters. To schedule an interview with Marcia Greenberger, contact Adrienne Ammerman at 202-588-5180 or aammerman@nwlc.org.

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