Majority Leader Reid: Health Care Reform Helps Women

Jordan Rohde — August 19, 2011 – 11:55 am | Health Care | Women's Issues Comments (0) Add a comment

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) published an op-ed in The Huffington Post that explained the reasons why the Affordable Care Act is particularly helpful to women. According to Reid, “The Affordable Care Act is helping women—young and old—avoid the onset of illness and improve their quality of life” because of its emphasis on preventative care.

Reid pointed to the fact that more women nationwide struggle with chronic disease than men. He also noted that in 2009, more than half of women delayed or avoided preventive care, sometimes even mammograms and pap smears, because of high costs. Reid wrote that things have changed dramatically since 2009:

[Because of health insurance reform] preventative care has become much more affordable. For Medicare beneficiaries, the cost burden of services—such as mammograms, colonoscopies and blood pressure checks—has been lifted entirely.

Reid not only explained the progress already made, but emphasized the progress to come in the future:

In its report, [the Department of Health and Human Services] announced new guidelines that will ensure women of all ages receive preventive health services at no additional cost. HHS’s announcement follows a report by the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine that included fundamental preventive services are a basic health need of all women.

Starting in 2012, new health insurance plans will not only put money back in the pockets of women, but they will cover a wider net of preventive care services, such as Human Papilloma Virus DNA testing, HIV screening and counseling, FDA-approved contraception, breastfeeding support and domestic violence screening and counseling.

Reid finished by emphasizing how important it is to “make sure today’s women know about the benefits available to them,” and said “no one should be forced to struggle without medical coverage because of an illness that could have been detected and treated.”

Click here to read Reid’s full op-ed.

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