[NOW Action List] Protect Women's Healthcare coverage!

Support NOW's Work |	May 05, 2006	| Tell a Friend

Action Needed Background All NOW Actions More on Women's Health		Urge your Senators Not to Eliminate Mandated Health Coverage The Senate has scheduled for Tuesday a vote on the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability (sic) Act of 2005 (S.1955), and we need everyone's help to keep this dangerous bill from passing. Introduced by Senator Michael Enzi (R-Wyoming), the proposal sounds good ? to make health insurance "more affordable" by allowing small businesses to come together to buy health coverage for their workers. In practice, however, it will allow health insurers to sell a product that bypasses state requirements for minimum benefits and ignores the coverage mandates required by state law. At the state level, many of these improvements in coverage were enacted to promote and protect women?s health needs, but this Senate proposal will allow the new health plans to be exempt from the requirements and even allow them to charge MORE if they do provide additional coverage that is currently mandated. S. 1955 would also supercede strong state laws that make it harder for insurers to charge higher premiums based on health status, age, gender, geography and business size. This is health care discrimination at its worst -- against the very workers who need affordable health insurance the most. Take Action NOW Action Needed: Send a message to your senators NOW Background: Our coalition partners are calling S.1955 the "Lose Your Healthcare Benefits bill" for good reason: it will override many state requirements for insurance coverage, erase years of work by states to give consumers adequate health coverage, and threatens to eliminate state-mandated coverage for prescription contraceptives, mammograms, breast, cervical, ovarian, colorectal, and prostate cancer screenings, maternity care, direct access to ob-gyns, well-child care and immunizations; emergency services; mental health care; diabetes supplies and education; and many other critical health services. Further, S.1955 will allow insurance companies to raise insurance premiums so high as to be prohibitive for the very consumers whose needs are greatest: women, the elderly, and the chronically ill. Though Senator Enzi claims to be helping small businesses with this bill, it does not address the rising healthcare costs that are the biggest concern for small employers. It is clear that these "reforms" are being enacted not for the benefit of consumers, or even of small business owners, but of big insurers. Rather than making insurance more affordable for small businesses, as proponents claim, this bill would cause those currently insured to lose essential health benefits and would make health insurance unaffordable for those who need it most. We cannot allow these hard-fought protections to be dismantled in order to assure increased profits for insurance companies, and for big businesses who like low-cost, low-benefit health plans. Take Action Now Send your senators a message ASAP and help us protect health care coverage for women, children and families.
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