Contact: Sara Finger, (608) 516-3960

Madison, WI – The Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health (WAWH) is beyond disappointed and frustrated that U.S. House of Representatives made it a priority to deny access to health care, increase the cost of health insurance coverage, and reduce the quality of health care for millions of American women and families today.  All five of the Republican members of the Wisconsin Congressional Delegation voted to repeal the ACA and to pass the devastating American Health Care Act (ACHA).

“Our Republican leaders should be ashamed of their actions today, said WAWH Executive Director Sara Finger. “We vow to hold these individuals accountable who voted for this terrible bill and we call on Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson to reject this blatant assault on women’s health and the health care that our families need.”

WAWH staff member Erica Koespel who depends on the ACA Marketplace for health care coverage said today “I’ve had the peace of mind under ObamaCare – I’m incredibly worried about what might happen when pre-existing condition protections go away.”  WAWH intern and advocate Alyssa Watts who also gets her coverage from the ACA asked, “Are we really going to go back to a time when women who have experienced domestic abuse or sexual assault are denied care because their trauma is viewed as a pre-existing condition?”

The bill passed today has been opposed by all major medical groups like the American Medical Association and a large array of patient advocacy groups like the March of Dimes and the American Heart Association.  This large scale opposition developed recently because the GOP plan have shattering consequences by:

  • Gutting protections for people with people with preexisting conditions by eliminating the ACA’s guarantee of affordable coverage, allowing insurance companies to charge people as much as they want (and the high risk pools they are offering, have been proven to not be effective coverage replacement)
  • Stripping healthcare from 24 million Americans and raises premiums by 20 percent
  • Eliminates the guarantee that insurance companies cover maternity care, cancer treatments and substance abuse care
  • Giving away $600 billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, including nearly $200,000 each in a single year for the wealthiest 0.1 percent of Americans
  • Increasing out-of-pocket costs for older Americans by as much $12,900 and allows health insurance companies to charge older Americans more in general
  • Gutting Medicaid by $880 billion and ends the program as we know it, leading to the rationing of care for children, seniors, and people with disabilities
  • Ending Medicaid expansion, meaning 11 million working families, children, people with disabilities, and seniors would lose their insurance
  • Eliminating federal funding for Planned Parenthood, putting care for 2.5 million patients nationwide at risk
  • Disproportionately hurting Americans living in rural areas

The vision of the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health (WAWH) is an environment in which all Wisconsin women, at every stage and every stage of their life, can realize their optimal health, safety and economic security. Visit www.supportwomenshealth.org.

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