Health Care Reform

The Affordable Care Act provides vitally important advances for the health of women and their families.  As the law is implemented on the state and federal levels, and as more Americans gain access to health insurance, we’re working to ensure that new health care law benefits women as part of our effort to improve women’s health.

Highlights

Fact Sheet | Strong Public Support Continues for States to Accept Federal Funds to Cover More Uninsured People Through Medicaid

April 9, 2013

A new national survey sponsored by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and the National Women’s Law Center shows strong support among adults 18 and older for their states to accept federal dollars that have been allocated to cover more uninsured people through Medicaid.  The survey, conducted March 15-19, 2013 among 1,016 adults 18 and older, has a margin of error of + 4 percentage points.

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Legal Briefs & Testimony | NWLC Amicus Briefs Supporting the Contraceptive Coverage Benefit

April 30, 2013

The Center is filing friend of the court briefs in lawsuits challenging the federal contraceptive coverage benefit, brought by employers who want to deny their employees this important benefit.  These cases involve suits brought under the First Amendment to the US Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  These cases will decide whether a boss’s religious beliefs trump women’s health and women’s access to the health care they need.

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Fact Sheet | Women’s Access to Preventive Services Affirmed by HHS

February 22, 2013

On February 20, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services released a set of Frequently Asked Questions which clarified many issues related to implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s preventive services requirement.  The FAQ is an important step towards ensuring that insurance plans and issuers implement the Women’s Preventive Health Services provision so that women get the comprehensive and affordable services guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act.  While the FAQ leaves some implementation questions unanswered, the National Women’s Law Center is pleased that the Department addressed several major issues to make sure that women have the coverage required by the law.  The charts below summarize implementation issues and how the FAQ responds to them.

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Fact Sheet | What the Medicaid Eligibility Expansion Means for Women

November 5, 2012

The Medicaid eligibility expansion is a crucial part of the health care law. Starting in 2014, 15 million uninsured Americans, including 7 million women will be newly eligible for Medicaid coverage.  Medicaid is an effective program that has the potential to improve the health and economic wellbeing of millions of American women while at the same time saving states money and creating jobs. Medicaid is and will continue to be a crucial source of health care for low-income women in America and it is vital to women’s health that states move forward with the Medicaid eligibility expansion. In this issue brief, we will examine why the current Medicaid program is important to women and why the Medicaid expansion is a good deal for women and states.

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More Resources

Infographics and Internet Memes | Women Will No Longer Have to Make Birth Control Choices Based on Cost

August 01, 2012

New provisions in the health care law are in effect on August 1, 2012. One provision requires insurance companies to cover contraceptives in all new health plans at the start of their plan year with no co-pay! This means women can now make their choices based on what is best for them and not based on cost. Check out our infographic below and learn more about these important provisions here: www.nwlc.org/contraceptivecoverage

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Fact Sheet | Women’s Preventive Health Services in the Health Care Law: What Students Should Know

July 30, 2012

The health care law makes preventive care more accessible and affordable to millions of Americans by requiring all new plans to cover certain women’s preventive health services and screenings without cost-sharing.

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Fact Sheet | The Supreme Court Decision on the Affordable Care Act: Frequently Asked Questions

July 05, 2012

After the historic Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act, you probably have questions about how the decision impacts you and your family. Hopefully this the FAQ will help you better understand the ways in which the ACA, and the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold it, will help women and their families obtain affordable, comprehensive health care.

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Reports & Toolkits | Health Care Law Litigation

June 27, 2012

Opponents of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have brought various lawsuits claiming that Congress lacked authority to pass the ACA but it is well-settled that the Commerce Clause of the Constitution allows Congress to make laws addressing national economic problems. The ACA addresses a national breakdown in the health insurance market that has resulted in widespread denials of coverage, limited access to health care, and increased health care costs. By addressing the economic impacts of the discrimination that women face in the health insurance market, it also falls within a long tradition of civil rights laws falling well within Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause.

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| Comments on Structuring the Accommodation for “Religious Organizations,” As Relating to the Contraceptive Coverage Requirement

June 20, 2012

The National Women's Law Center submitted comments on questions posed by the Administration regarding the structuring and implementation of the Accommodation for a “religious organization” who does not want to cover contraception as part of its insurance plan for its employees.

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