UPHELD: U.S. Supreme Court Decision to Update Heath Care Law is a Victory for Unmarried Women
June 28th, 2012
The High Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act — the historic health reform measure that is already providing, and promises to provide even more, access to good quality and affordable basic health care services — is a victory for millions of unmarried women and their families.
Unmarried women have been hit especially hard by the economy and are twice as likely (17 percent) as married women (8.8 percent) to have gone without health coverage in the last year. More than one in four (26 percent) of unmarried women –women who are divorced, separated, widowed or who have never been married – say they have not gone to a doctor in the past year because of costs and four in ten (43 percent) say they have not filled a prescription because they did not have the money.
That’s why health care reform and the ACA are so vitally important to unmarried women and today’s ruling by the U S. Supreme Court ruling should be celebrated. The Affordable Care Act provides a system of care for women throughout all life cycles and includes new preventive well-woman services of coverage.
The life-saving benefits that are already a reality for millions of unmarried women under the ACA include:
- coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions;
- allowing children to remain on their parents’ plans until age 26;
- banning gender discrimination in pricing for individuals and small businesses;
- emphasis on preventive care and wellness and improved access to a package of women’s preventive services, like mammograms and birth control, in all new health insurance plans without co-payments, minimum deductibles and at no additional costs.
