The Increasingly Awful ACA Repeal Bill

Based on our previous post, you already know that the GOP plan to replace the ACA is a disaster for women and families.  Between preventing women from using Medicaid coverage at Planned Parenthood and prohibiting private marketplaces from covering abortion, women stand to lose the most with the American Health Care Act.

But with a House vote scheduled today and amendments being made by the moment, here are the most important new things for you to be aware of as you advocate again the ACA repeal and the GOP plan:

• Maternity coverage would no longer be guaranteed, nor would coverage for any of the Essential Health Benefits that women and our families need (such as ER visits, doctor visits and prescription drugs)
• As a result, women would once again end up paying more than men, because anyone who needed maternity coverage would have to pay more.
• Although the ban on denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions would not be lifted, those folks would end up having to pay exorbitant prices for health coverage, because insurers would eliminate from their basic plans coverage for things like breast cancer treatment. All of that would become an expensive extra, effectively pricing health coverage beyond the reach of people with pre-existing conditions.
  
• Because the ACA’s ban on annual or liftime caps on coverage applied only to the Essential Health Benefits, when the EHBs are eliminated, insurers are free to once again impose annual and lifetime limits on coverage. This means that once again, we and our families could find ourselves running out of coverage part way through treatment for an illness, such as breast cancer, or accident.

Make a call now to your Congressional Representative and tell them to vote NO on the AHCA!