Marking Two Years of the Affordable Care Act: Sen. Carper Highlights Health Care Reform’s Impact on Women

WASHINGTON – In anticipation of the two year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act becoming law, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee who helped strengthen the health care reform legislation in the Senate, released the following statement highlighting the law’s benefits for women throughout Delaware and the United States:

“Central to the Affordable Care Act is making affordable, high quality health care accessible to all Americans, regardless of gender, age or income,” said Sen. Carper. “Through the Affordable Care Act, women will have better access to comprehensive and life-saving preventive care services, such as screenings for mammograms and cervical cancers, well-woman visits and gestational diabetes screenings. By treating illnesses early, we have a better chance of saving lives and lowering costs for everyone. In addition, the Affordable Care Act takes the critical step of closing the insurance cost disparity between women and men. Gender should not be treated as a pre-existing condition and with the Affordable Care Act that discriminatory practice will soon come to an end.”

Since its enactment in March 2010, the Affordable Care Act has helped expand access to high quality, comprehensive, and affordable health care for Delaware’s women:

• Prevention Coverage for Women’s Health and Well-Being: Under the Affordable Care Act all health plans are required to cover recommended preventive services – such as mammograms, screenings for cervical cancer, and other services – with no copayments, co-insurance, or deductible when they are delivered by a network provider.

• Elimination of Gender-Rating: Under the Affordable Care Act, in 2014, women will no longer pay more for their insurance as a result of their gender. The practice of gender rating by insurers costs women approximately $1 billion per year in additional expenditures on premiums. As many as 92 percent of insurance plans gender rate, and some plans charge women up to 80 percent more for a similar health insurance plan. In 2014, insurers will be explicitly prohibited from using gender to determine premiums in the individual and small group markets.

To read more about how the Affordable Care Act has strengthened health care for women, please click here.

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