Health Care

Today, the Supreme Court will hear argument on two issues, both critically important to women. First, if the individual responsibility provision is struck down as unconstitutional, do other parts of the Affordable Care Act go with it? And second, is the Medicaid expansion in the ACA unconstitutional?

The first issue is a question of what is called “severability.” Some laws have a provision called a severability clause, which says that if any part of the law is deemed unconstitutional, the rest of the law will remain in force. The ACA doesn’t have a severability clause, and so if any part of it is held unconstitutional, it is up to the Court to decide whether Congress would have intended other parts of the law or all of the law to remain in force in its absence. The government has argued that the individual responsibility provision is constitutional, but that if it is struck down, then the provisions prohibiting insurance companies to make insurance available to anyone who wants it, regardless of preexisting conditions, should be struck down as well. Read more »

Today is the headline day at the Supreme Court in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) cases as the Court considers the constitutionality of the personal responsibility provision. Yesterday, by all accounts, the Justices seemed inclined to hold that they need not wait until 2015 to decide whether this provision is constitutional, which means that the argument today is likely to lead to a decision on the fate of the provision in June.

Women should be watching. The individual responsibility provision, which requires nonexempt individuals to maintain health insurance or pay a fine, and provides subsidies to low- and moderate-income people for this purpose, is closely bound up with the provisions in the ACA banning pre-existing condition exclusions and requiring insurance companies to make coverage available for all. As Speaker Pelosi declared the night the House voted for the legislation, echoing the words of a National Women’s Law Center campaign, “After we pass this bill, being a woman will no longer be a preexisting medical condition.”

Insurers in the individual market have routinely denied coverage for so-called “pre-existing conditions,” such as having given birth by Caesarean section. For example, in 2009, Peggy Robertson of Colorado testified in Congress that because of her previous C-section, an insurer told her that she could only obtain coverage if she were sterilized. Other women have been deemed to have a preexisting condition because they are pregnant or because they are survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault. Read more »

Today, the Supreme Court will begin arguments about the constitutionality of provisions within the Affordable Care Act.

Watch our short video explaining the legal challenges, why we think the law is constitutional, and what women could lose if the law is struck down.

Read more »

We’ve been celebrating and talking about the Affordable Care Act second anniversary all week long, so today I’m going to bring you some non-health-care-related stories. Here’s what you can look forward to: dunks in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, speaking out against street harassment, a new interview that follows up on last week’s bullying documentary on the Cartoon Network, and Amelia Earhart – found at last?

Who says the girls can’t play like the guys? Check out the video of 1-seed Baylor’s Brittney Griner dunking during the Bears’ March 20 NCAAW tournament win vs. 9-seed Florida. Baylor is now headed to the Sweet 16. Brittney’s the second woman to dunk during the NCAAW tournament, and this is the sixth dunk of her college career.

Cool as her moves may be, dunking isn’t Brittney’s favorite. Instead? “My big thing is blocked shots; that's my favorite thing to do.” And you know how the saying goes – offense wins games, but defense wins championships.

Speaking of the NCAAW tourney, in case you need it, here’s the latest bracket.

If you’re following us on Twitter, you probably saw that we participated in a tweetchat yesterday with the White House’s Jon Carson and some friends from MomsRising to celebrate the second anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.

I accompanied Judy Waxman, NWLC’S Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights, over to the White House for the tweetchat. We gathered at 2:00 yesterday afternoon and after a quick group photo, we got started and dug into a Twitter conversation about how the health care law is helping women and their families.

Yesterday’s team getting ready to tweet from the White House. From L-R, back row: HHS’s Seth Wainer and Rima Cohen, NWLC’s Danielle Jackson, MomsRising’s Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner and Ashley Boyd; front row: NWLC’s Judy Waxman, and White House Director of the Office of Public Engagement Jon Carson. Check out Jon Carson getting a jump on the tweeting!

There were a TON of questions out there on Twitter for us to answer – seriously, tons!

The House of Representatives is currently considering a bill, H.R. 5, which would reform medical malpractice laws. Several Congresswomen drafted an amendment to this bill which would have limited the bill’s malpractice protections if the malpractice claim is based on a violation of the health care reform law related to the women’s preventive health services. The Congresswomen went through the usual steps that an amendment must go through before it can be proposed. They worked with the Office of Legislative Counsel in drafting it. It was reviewed by the Congressional Budget Office who said its provisions would have no cost. The House Parliamentarian declared that it was germane, meaning that it was related to the underlying bill so that it could be proposed. The next step before the amendment could be debated on the floor was to have the Rules Committee allow the amendment. And then the Rules Committee attempted to silence these women, just as Rep. Issa tried to silence Sandra Fluke. Read more »

Good news from Arizona! Legislators there listened to women that their health is not up for debate! Politicians were attempting to make it more difficult for Arizona women to access insurance coverage of birth control by stripping away current protections in the state contraceptive equity law. They wanted to allow any employer with a religious objection – even the CEO of a for-profit corporation – to refuse to provide contraceptive coverage to employees. They also wanted to make it easier for those employers to fire a woman if they found out she obtained birth control on her own. Most egregious to the press and public, the bill would have forced women who work for those employers and need contraception for medical reasons to prove it. Read more »

Having a chronic illness is not easy. You have doctor appointments. Prescriptions to fill. Medical bills to sort through. Lab tests. Physical therapy exercises. Special diets. In some ways, a chronic illness can feel like a full-time job.

Ay, there’s the rub.

A chronic illness can feel like a full-time job, but millions of Americans depend on a full-time job for health insurance. So those of us with a chronic illness are often juggling two jobs – the one that pays the bills and provides the insurance and the one that racks up the bills and uses the insurance.

But what are we to do?

The individual insurance market is not a friendly place for the chronically ill. Once I had that first asthma attack as a child, the likelihood of getting coverage in the individual market took a nose dive.

The grass is not always greener on another plan. It’s difficult to give up a good employer sponsored plan when you don’t know what you will end up with. Access to my former employer’s insurance was an important factor in my decision to go to law school at night because I couldn’t take the chance that a student health plan wouldn’t cover my illness.

But things are changing. Read more »

Over the past 23 years I have been lucky enough to have great health coverage and benefits from being a dependent on my parents’ plan. When I was 12 years old I was “lucky” enough to experience what it was really like to be a woman, and it was painful. My father spent many months taking me to the E.R. with both of us assuming that I was some sort of freak-girl, until finally an OB/GYN prescribed a birth control that eliminated the pain.

Because of the health insurance my father receives, I only have to pay $5 a month for my pills, which has been quite the blessing. Not only that but my bi-annual trips to the OB/GYN were affordable for my family. I found myself luckier than some girls I knew who were always struggling when it came to receiving safe, reproductive health care.

This past December I received my Bachelor’s degree and alongside the excitement of being a college graduate, panic struck. Come June, I will have to begin paying back my student loans. Jobs haven’t exactly been thrown at me either, which is why I am thankful for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Read more »

Before interning at the National Women’s Law Center I did not know much or really anything at all about the health care law. Furthermore, I didn’t know that my family was benefitting from it, especially my sister who recently graduated from college.

For the last 6 months, I’ve also been able to observe my sister, Alex’s, transition from college to the real world. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 2011, she decided to work in the non-profit sector. She accepted a one-year fellowship in New York City. Alex moved from New Hampshire to New York on a tight budget, and a small wage, specifically less than $35,000 a year.

Between spending $1,000 a month for rent, plus additional bills for groceries, utilities, and taxes, Alex is not exactly living the life of luxury. While her employer offered health insurance, the plan wasn’t affordable on her salary, and would make a significant dent in her earnings. Many young professionals in Alex’s position would simply elect to forego health insurance to save money. I am sure this would have been the case with my sister if it were not for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Read more »