Tag Archives: insurance

We Can’t Go Back to Being at the Mercy of Insurance Companies

Call your Senators today and tell them to vote NO on repealing the health care law.

Call 877-667-6650

Yes, they are at it again. Are health care law opponents creating more jobs and helping our struggling economy, you ask? Nope, not until they have accomplished political priority #1 — scoring points with their base by trying to repeal the health care law, even though that would harm women’s health.

A vote in the Senate to repeal the health care law is imminent. Call your Senators today at 877-667-6650 and tell them to vote NO on repealing the health care law.

I know you’ve sent letters and called your Members of Congress in the past to tell them you support the health care law — but let me explain why we need you to pick up the phone again to protect this critical law.

Because of the health care law:

a mother who is diagnosed with breast cancer can focus on her treatment and not worry about whether her insurance company will drop her because she got sick;

a young boy who has type 1 diabetes won’t have trouble getting health care coverage because of a pre-existing condition or face a lifetime cap on coverage;

a young woman can go to her gynecologist and get a pap smear without a referral and without paying a co-pay.

Repealing the health care law will take away these important benefits — and more — that women and their families are already enjoying. It will also re-open the door to discriminatory insurance practices like charging women more than men for health care coverage and denying coverage to mothers who have had Caesarean sections and domestic violence survivors under the guise that these are “pre-existing conditions.”

Women and their families can’t go back to being at the mercy of insurance companies. Call your Senators today at 877-667-6650 and tell them to vote NO on repealing the health care law.

Please send a strong message of support for the law. Call your Senators today.

Sincerely,

Judy Waxman

Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights

National Women’s Law Center

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H.R.3 goes too far …The anti-choice bill

02/01/2011 Nativegrl77

A NEW LOW FOR ANTI-CHOICE LEADERS IN CONGRESS

New legislation would take away the health benefits women have today. It attempts to ban private health insurance for abortion even in many cases of rape and when the woman’s life is in danger.

They’ve gone too far. Tell Congress to reject the anti-choice Smith bill.

http://www.ppaction.org/site/R?i=8qsoOaW_zYiNkfFrYCUrCw..

H.R. 3 simply goes too far. The restrictions contained in this bill represent an unprecedented effort to deny women the right to make their own personal and private medical decisions and to purchase the health care coverage they want.

Supporters:

“This is a reckless effort to cripple an irreplaceable organization out of pure politics.”

That’s what The New York Times wrote yesterday about extreme anti-choice legislation recently introduced in Congress that would strip Planned Parenthood of funds to provide preventive care — birth control and family planning — to millions of women. More people are recognizing the truth about what we’ve been saying for months: anti-choice attacks on women’s health and Planned Parenthood itself are escalating, and our opponents want nothing less than to eliminate Planned Parenthood and with it a source of care for millions of women.

The new anti-choice leadership in the House presents a real danger to the future of women’s health in America. The first step to stopping them is to speak out. Tell Congress to reject the anti-choice Smith bill.

Representative Smith (R-NJ) introduced a bill that attempts to ban private insurance coverage for abortion for millions of women — even for women who have such coverage today. It goes so far as to raise taxes for individuals and small businesses that purchase health insurance coverage for abortion with their own money. And it gets worse.

Heartlessly, the Smith bill would even prevent many rape survivors from getting the care they need. If this bill passes, only rape survivors who become pregnant through “forcible rape” will be allowed federal financing of abortion. This means women who are drugged, unconscious, coerced — or whatever else state lawmakers decide does not constitute “forcible rape” — could be excluded from the abortion coverage they need. Read that again, because it is truly shocking. The sponsors of this bill want to ban federal funding for abortion in cases of rape they deem not “forcible.”

This bill would reverse existing protections that guarantee millions of women access to abortion coverage when their life is in danger. And if that is not enough, it expands restrictions on abortion funding and makes them permanent. To protect access to abortion, we must stop this bill.

I can’t express how unjust, and how cruel, this legislation truly is. Rep. Smith and his extreme anti-choice colleagues have taken their campaign against women’s health and rights to a new low, and they must be stopped. Do your part now. Tell Congress to reject this attack on women’s health. Click here to take action.

It is unconscionable for anti-choice politicians who were elected on a promise to fix the economy to use their newly found power to deny women access to reproductive health care, including abortion. But that’s exactly what they are trying to do.

Our opponents want to shut down local Planned Parenthood health centers and deny women access to basic preventive health care like birth control and family planning. They want to take away women’s right to make their own personal and private medical decisions. The members of the new House majority have proven that there is no limit to how far they will go in their assault on women’s health and rights.

We have to stand against them. You and I and everyone who cares about women’s health, we must speak out together. Please, take action now — and then tell you friends, your family, and your co-workers to join you.

Thank you so very much for standing with us and the women, men, and teens that rely on Planned Parenthood.

Sincerely,

Cecile Richards, President

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the cost of repeal

01/20/2011 Nativegrl77

Yesterday, Republicans put their priorities on display on the House floor — making them plain as day.

Repeal. Undo. Cancel. Roll back.

This is what House Republicans have decided to focus on first with their new majority in Congress.

At a moment when our country has the chance to come together, Republicans in Congress are prioritizing a measure that they know only serves to divide us — a vote to reinstate insurance company abuses that health insurance reform had remedied, and to take away benefits that are improving the lives of Americans right now.

Democrats fought long and hard for the reform that Republicans are now attempting to dismantle. Volunteers made countless calls, wrote notes to our lawmakers, and attended events to build support in communities in all 50 states. We talked to our friends and neighbors, and penned letters to the editors of our local papers. We did it because we knew reform would improve the lives of millions of Americans.

And even as I write this, that’s exactly what’s happening around the country. Reform is at work in the day-to-day lives of real people — from providers to patients, young adults to seniors, small-business owners to their employees. And unraveling those reforms comes at a real and meaningful cost.

We’re fighting back with a campaign to make sure folks know exactly how health insurance reform improves lives — and exactly what the Republicans’ repeal would mean for our country.

Donate $3 or more today to help fuel our work to get out the facts about reform — and the cold, hard facts of repeal.

In a world of political catchphrases, where there’s always a new story of the moment, it’s far too easy for substance to get lost in the shuffle. It’s far too easy for the sound bite of the moment — rather than the facts — to rule the day.

But when the truth is told, Americans are overwhelmingly against any bill that would put an end to the provisions in health reform.

Because repeal would mean returning to the days when insurance companies could deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions — as many as half of Americans under 65.

It would mean that a 22-year-old currently covered by her parents’ insurance plan could get dropped again.

It would mean undoing steps to close the “donut hole” in prescription drug coverage, forcing millions of seniors to keep paying more for prescriptions they need.

It would mean that a working mother would once again have to worry that her coverage could suddenly be dropped if her child gets sick or injured.

It would mean that millions of small-business owners would lose tax credits, and struggle once again with the crippling costs of providing health insurance to their employees.

And it would mean tacking on $230 billion to our national deficit over the next 10 years — a burden every taxpayer would have to shoulder.

This is the cost of repeal.

It’s a cost that would affect all of us — and it’s a cost that Republicans seem willing to undertake.

Not us.

Remember — we began this fight because this country’s health insurance system needed to do better by its people.

And now that millions of lives are being improved, it’s our responsibility to protect the reform we fought so hard for. We owe it to those whose lives are being made better — and we owe it to ourselves.

Please donate today to help us build up our campaign about the real consequences of repeal:

http://my.democrats.org/ProtectReform

Thanks,

Jen

Jen O’Malley Dillon

Executive Director

Democratic National Committee

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Tomorrow’s Vote

01/18/2011 Nativegrl77

Tomorrow, House Republicans plan to follow through on their campaign threat from last year by voting to repeal health insurance reform.

Rather than focus on jobs and the economy, Republicans will make their first big vote an effort to put big health insurance companies back in charge and allow them to once again discriminate against folks with pre-existing conditions and deny coverage to those who need it the most.

We’ve been ready for this vote. The DCCC has a campaign all set to go that will hold them immediately accountable in the media for standing with insurance companies instead of hardworking Americans — but we need to raise $50,000 immediately to hit the ground running.

Help us hold House Republicans accountable for voting to repeal health insurance reform. Contribute $5, $10 or more in the next 24 hours so we can hit the ground running with our Rapid Response campaign.

Republicans think that public opinion is on their side — but we know otherwise.

That’s why it’s so critical to get our campaign off the ground immediately to make our strongest possible support for protecting President Obama’s health insurance reforms. Our Rapid Response campaign will shine a light on Republicans’ record of putting big health insurance company profits ahead of affordable health care for struggling families.

Leader Pelosi has called this our “first big test” and I could not agree more.

Help us raise $50,00 in the next 24 hours to show Republicans how fast we can hold them accountable for trying to put big health insurance companies back in charge.

Robby Mook

DCCC Executive Director

P.S. The DCCC has a hard-hitting campaign all set to go that will hold Republicans accountable in the media for voting to repeal health insurance reform tomorrow. Help us raise $50,000 in the next 24 hours so we can hit the ground running right away.

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Repeal Vote Imminent: Women’s Health at Risk … a message from someone who knows

01/18/2011 Nativegrl77

I Am Not a Pre-Existing Condition

Tell your Representative to vote NO on repealing the health care law.

Call 877-667-6650

Tomorrow, the House will vote on a bill to repeal the new health care law. Repealing the law would risk access to health care and affordable insurance coverage for all women and women like me — a rape survivor.

Please call 877-667-6650 and tell your Member of Congress to vote NO on repealing the health care law.

Eight years ago, I was drugged and raped while on a business trip. I’m lucky to be alive.

At the time, I was a health insurance agent and when I needed new insurance, I knew how hard it would be to get coverage due to the medical treatment I received for my assault. I needed counseling and preventive anti-HIV medications but the insurance companies didn’t care what I needed. To them, being treated for rape qualified as a “pre-existing condition” and they said they wouldn’t cover someone like me.

The only coverage I could find would have cost almost as much as my monthly rent. So for three years, I was uninsured. I paid for my counseling, my medication, and all my day-to-day health needs out of pocket. I was lucky I could afford to do that. It wasn’t easy, though, and being uninsured was a big worry I faced every day.

The new health care law puts an end to insurance companies treating women like a pre-existing condition. But that’s not all — the law is already helping women and their families by providing no-cost preventive health care services, preventing insurance companies from dropping patients when they become sick, and prohibiting insurance companies from limiting the amount of money they will pay for benefits over a woman’s lifetime. All this is at risk.

Please call 877-667-6650 and tell your Member of Congress to vote NO on repealing the health care law.

The new health care law works for all of us. But repeal will put me and millions of other women and their families at the mercy of the insurance industry again. We can’t go back.

Please send a strong message. Call your Member of Congress today.

Sincerely,

Chris Turner