Health Care

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 »

On the second anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a reminder: this important law allows me and millions of college students the freedom to make autonomous choices about our future as working Americans.

As is the case for many students nowadays, I’m not guaranteed a job after a graduate. But I can breathe easier knowing that the ACA lets me stay on my parent’s health plan until I work my way up to a paid position with benefits. In the (hopefully short) interim, I can focus on succeeding as a member of the workforce instead of worrying about insurance. Read more »

This week in our weekly roundup: a new documentary on bullying to air this weekend on Cartoon Network, Doonesbury on abortion in Texas, and the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

First up, I want to make sure you know that there’s a new documentary on bullying that will air on the Cartoon Network this weekend. Unlike Bully, the documentary that’s set to be released on March 30 (and is currently wrangling with the MPAA to have its rating dropped from R to PG-13), Cartoon Network’s Stop Bullying: Speak Up will air on television – making it very accessible to a wide audience.

The documentary features real stories from kids who’ve been bullied for a variety of reasons, so hopefully it will resonate with kids in school. It also features stories from some well-known people who advocate for ending bullying, including Cartoon Network’s CJ Manigo, Ali Sepasyar and Jackson Rogow, former NBA player Chris Webber, and pro BMX biker Matt Wilhelm. Bullying prevention expert Rosalind Wiseman will also answer questions before, during, and after the documentary airs. Read more »

Last year, states passed a record 92 restrictions on women’s access to reproductive health services. Just last week, lawmakers in Virginia were poised to force women to have an invasive and unnecessary transvaginal ultrasound before having an abortion. And as we speak, the state of Texas is cutting reproductive health care services for hundreds of thousands of low-income women.

What other hurdles will they make women jump over to get the reproductive health care they need?

Watch our new video and tell your leaders: My Health is NOT Up for Debate™! Read more »

In 2014, all health insurance plans in the individual or small group market will have to cover a core set of Essential Health Benefits. This means that when a woman becomes pregnant, she won’t have to worry that her insurance doesn’t cover maternity care. Whether she gets coverage through a small business employer, on the individual market, or the new health insurance marketplaces called exchange – she will know that maternity care and other important health services for women are considered essential.

The components of the Essential Health Benefit package are one of the most important parts of the health care law because they are intended to correct longstanding discriminatory practices that women face in the vast majority of states. The National Women’s Law Center submitted comments on the Essential Health Benefits requirements of the Affordable Care Act to make sure these discriminatory practices are put to an end and the health needs of women are met. Read more »