The Affordable Care Act recently celebrated its eighth anniversary. While some may argue otherwise, I am confident in stating that the Affordable Care Act is the greatest advancement in women’s health in a generation.
Before 2010, being a woman could be considered a pre-existing condition, and women paid thousands of dollars out of pocket for basic care, such as birth control and annual checkups.
Today, the ACA requires that health plans cover important preventive services without any co-pays for enrollees. These services include birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and annual well-woman exams.
Since ACA became law, more than 55 million women gained guaranteed coverage of these additional preventive benefits without cost-sharing. This shift in access saves women an average of $269 annually and saves lives.
Sen. Rosalyn Baker at a recent hearing. She says Hawaii can’t wait for Congress to act when it comes to health care protections.
Cory Lum/Civil Beat
Further, the ACA established Essential Health Benefits, a minimum level of coverage that most health plans have to provide. These benefits include important services, such as prescription drug coverage and maternity care. Prior to the ACA, only 12 percent of individual market plans covered maternity care.
Congressional Republican leadership continues to find ways to destabilize the market and further chip away at health care access. Most recently, Congress failed to attach payments to insurers — meant to financially stabilize the health care exchanges — to the government spending package that was signed into law.
Leading By Example
We can’t wait around while Congress plays political games with our health care. Hawaii will lead by example, which is why I am backing and working to advance a package of health insurance bills in the Legislature.
Senate Bill 2340 passed its final committee hearing this week and will soon go to the full House for a vote. The bill, sponsored by the Women’s Legislative Caucus, is another step closer to becoming law and will prohibit insurers from denying coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, from charging women more for coverage simply because of their gender, and will allow young people to stay on their parent or guardian’s plans until age 26.
We can’t wait around while Congress plays political games with our health care.
In addition, we are moving on a number of bills designed to shore up our state insurance laws in the event that the ACA or portions of the law are repealed. These bills aim to increase health care premium assistance, authorize the state to apply for and implement a 1332 waiver, prohibit health insurers from providing limited-duration health insurance coverage, and require association health plan policies to comply with the laws of Hawaii regardless of the association’s location.
In a recent Gallup poll, 55 percent of Americans worry “a great deal” about “the availability and affordability of health care.” Hawaii is no different. Since the ACA became law, more than 54,000 people in Hawaii gained insurance coverage, and 560,000 people with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage.
More than 268,000 women have gained insurance and approximately 6,000 youth in Hawaii have gained coverage because of the ACA requirement that allows young people to stay on an insurance policy until they turn 26 years old.
For years, Hawaii has led the way when it comes to health care. No question, there is absolutely more to do, but my Legislative colleagues and I are up for the challenge and we know that we cannot afford to slide backward and lose valuable access to health care that is essential to the lives of our mothers, wives, sisters and children.
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