DeLauro Highlights Positive Impact Of Health Care Reform for CT Women

Hears From CT Residents Who Are Benefitting From theLaw

WASHINGTON, DC—Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) todayoutlined how Connecticut women are benefitting from the landmark health carereform law. DeLauro was joined by Connecticut residents who shared their ownstories of how the law is helping them and their families.

"Voting for the Affordable Care Act is one of the proudestvotes I have taken, in no small part because it finally put women's health onan equal footing with men's. Before we acted, individual women routinely paidmore than men, but still did not have important services, like maternity care,covered. Starting next year, insurance companies cannot do that anymore. Andhaving a child, or even being a victim of domestic violence, is no longergrounds for denying a woman health insurance coverage. These reforms, alongwith many others, are long overdue."

DeLauro was joined by Demian Fontenella, CT Office of theHealthcare Advocate; Bev Levy, who is undergoing ovarian cancer treatments; andMary Ann Wasil, a survivor of breast cancer.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) guarantees coverage formaternity care, and no out of pocket costs for essential preventative healthservices, providing critical health services to women and families throughoutthe country. Over a million Connecticut women have already accessed free coveragefor critical services like free annual checkups, colonoscopies, contraception,mammograms and flu shots.

The ACA eliminates discriminatory practices that havepreviously marginalized women, such as gender rating, the practice of chargingwomen more for insurance simply because they are a woman, and barring denialsbased on pre-existing conditions, which to some insurers even extended topregnancy or domestic violence. And thanks to a provision DeLauro championed,everyone shopping for health insurance gets a clearly worded "summaryof benefits" that explains basic information about the policies they areconsidering.