In a tremendous victory for all Americans, the Supreme Court upheld the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), an act that extends health care coverage and seeks to eliminate the barriers to receiving affordable medical care. While this ruling will impact the lives of all Americans, it has an especially powerful effect on women’s health care.
Under the current health care system, women can be denied coverage for having had a C-Section, breast cancer, or even for having been sexually assaulted. The ACA changes this and ensures that insurance companies cannot deny coverage based upon a pre-existing condition.
Additionally, the ACA ends the practice of charging women more for insurance simply because they are women. This widespread practice, currently present in 90% of top insurance providers, costs women more than $1 billion dollars annually, with some companies charging women 85% more than their male counterparts.
This historic decision has tremendous significance to the nearly 50 million uninsured people living in America today. Upholding this law recognizes the moral and economic importance of increasing access to affordable medical services. While this is a victory for all people, women especially will benefit from this decision for generations to come
Moira, Web Correspondent, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Datoka
