Wisconsin women have much at stake in the debate over health care reform. The  American health care system has traditionally failed to provide access to needed care for many girls and women. It has also created tremendous challenges for the women who coordinate health care for our families.

Affordable Care Act (ACA)

There are many reasons why women win with the ACA including:

1. Employees with family policies can opt for coverage of their adult children up to age 26 who are uninsured
2. Insurance companies will be required to cover preventive services for all people such as cancer screenings, immunizations and colonoscopies
3. Sick children cannot be turned down for coverage because of their condition
4. There will no longer be lifetime limits on essential benefits, so people can now get the health care they need without worrying about when they’ll hit their “maximum” limit of coverage
5. Insurance companies will no longer be able to use “failure to report past health history” as a reason to rescind coverage, except in cases of fraud
   

• HealthCare.Gov
• Raising Women’s Voices
• National Women’s Law Center Reform Matters
• Roadblocks to Health Care: Why the Current Health Care System does not work for Women
• Women’s Health & Health Care Reform Report
• National Partnership Key Elements of Health Care Reform
• Women’s Health Insurance Coverage Fact Sheet (KFF)

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Senate  Plan to Repeal the ACA

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American Health Care Act (AHCA)

 On March 6, 2017, House Republicans introduced  American Health Care Act (AHCA)  a bill to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). On May 4, 2017, the United States House of Representatives voted to pass the American Health Care Act (and thereby repeal most of the Affordable Care Act) by a narrow margin of 217 to 213, sending the bill to the Senate for deliberation.  Link here for a summary for the bill from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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Medicaid

Waiver

The Department of Health Services (DHS) has proposed significant changes to BadgerCare Plus for childless adults that will impose significant hardships on insured BadgerCare patients.

Many Wisconsinites could lose their access to health care services if a new set of Walker administration proposals is approved by federal officials.  The proposals formally unveiled by DHS would adversely affect thousands of childless adults who have incomes below the poverty level and who rely on BadgerCare for their health care.

The proposal seeks to:

• Charge monthly premiums
• Charge higher monthly premiums for those engaged in "risky behavior" as indicated through a Health Risk Assessment
• Impose work or work training requirements
• Require drug screenings as a condition of eligibility
• Make referrals to treatment programs for those who test positive for drug use
  

Link here to view the comments submitted by WAWH to DHS

Block Grants