Why Women Should Vote: To Rectify Long-Standing Inequities in Women's Health and Make Health Insurance More Affordable for Women and Their Families

Today, too many women depend on a health care system that is failing them.  They have trouble affording necessary care, face unfair insurance industry practices, or struggle to find insurance that covers the benefits they need.  This year, the federal government took a major step toward meeting women’s health needs by enacting a new health care law, but efforts are already underway to repeal this new law and eliminate the protections it provides.  By voting, women can make sure our leaders in Washington continue to work to address long-standing inequities in women’s health and meet the health care needs of women and their families.

For Too Long, Women’s Health Care Needs Have Been Shortchanged And Ignored

• Insurance companies regularly exclude the kind of coverage—like maternity care—that women need most.
• Women are routinely charged higher premiums than for men for the same coverage.
• Insurance companies regularly deny coverage for women with pre-existing conditions, like a past C-section or a fight against breast cancer.

The New Health Care Law Takes Important Steps to Rectify These Inequities

• Insurance companies can no longer drop coverage for someone who gets sick.
• All new health plans must cover preventive services, such as mammograms and pap smears, at no cost to the woman.
• If you have a pre-existing condition and no insurance company would sell you a plan for the last six months, there is now insurance available to you in each state.
• Insurance companies can no longer charge women higher premiums than men.
• If you are under 26 years old and do not have your own insurance, you can get covered on your parents’ health plan.
• Insurance plans can no longer impose a lifetime limit on what they will pay for your medical claims.

Yet Efforts Are Underway to Repeal These and Other Important Protections, Some Before They Have Even Had a Chance to Work 

• Over the next few years, the new health care law will mean that women can no longer be charged more than men for the same health insurance coverage.
• If the new health care law is given a chance, all new health plans will cover benefits women need, like maternity care and prescription drugs.
• Over the next few years, families who can’t get health insurance through their work will have new options available to them, and millions of middle-class families will get help paying for it.

Some policymakers want to repeal these and other important protections that will improve women’s health and make health care more affordable to women and their families.  Others want to give them a chance and build on them.  Women’s votes will make the difference.

If women vote, Washington will listen.
REGISTER. VOTE.

The National Women’s Law Center is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that has been working to advance and protect women’s legal rights since 1972.  NWLC takes no position on candidates or elections, and nothing herein should be construed as an endorsement of any candidate or party.