Health Care Reform: What Are the Benefits for Women?
Health care reform continues to be a defining moment of Barack Obama’s presidency. With the signing of the health care bill in March, greater analysis has been focused on how the bill will impact various populations. Up to 15 million uninsured women could be provided with subsidized health insurance throughout the next 10 years, according to a recent report by The Commonwealth Fund.
Assistance could be provided for 14.5 million insured women whose coverage still results in high medical costs. The bill will impact women by:
• Expanding eligibility for Medicaid
• New coverage plans for maternity and newborn care
• Preventing higher premium charges or denied coverage based on health status or gender
• Limiting out-of-pocket expenses
Insurers generally consider care for women to be a higher risk than men and consequently, are reluctant to provide coverage or charge higher fees for women than men seeking the same benefits, according to the analysis.
While many changes will not begin until 2014, the report highlights some benefits will begin this year including mammograms, bans on lifetime benefit limits, rescissions of insurance policies, coverage of uninsured people with pre-existing conditions and Medicare rebates for women who reach a coverage gap in their prescription drug plans.
How has the new bill impacted you and your family?
- Brittany Johnson
