During the intense healthcare reform debate President Obama occasionally mentioned HIV infections and AIDS-related illnesses as among those pre-existing conditions that could no longer be used by health insurance companies to automatically exclude consumers from health insurance coverage. Yet the broader scope and crisis of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in America failed to garner much attention.
Serious disconnect. MSNBC reports this morning that “at the top of the list” of concerns about “important incumbents” who might retire sits Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak.
The Associated Press reported last night that “the insurance industry’s top lobbyist said insurers will accept new regulations to dispel uncertainty over a much-publicized guarantee that children with medical problems can get coverage starting this year.”
Kaiser Health News reports today that the insurance industry lobbyists claim the health reform bill signed by President Obama this week lacks a clear mandate for immediate coverage of children with pre-existing conditions, potentially leaving these children vulnerable for four more years. The Administration says it will fix the loophole.
In keeping with their failed efforts to upend health reform, Senate Republicans are using several tactics to delay passage of the reconciliation bill now being debated. First it was a work stoppage (are Senators unionized?), and now it is a string of irrelevant, and sometimes dangerous, amendments.
A day after Republicans decided to declare their own week of half-days at work and to stall as much as possible all Senate business, Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) took to the floor of the Senate to reiterate some of the most important elements of health reform for women.
Despite a significant set back for abortion access, health reform is still a victory for reproductive justice.
In his inaugural address, President Obama declared his administration would “restore science to its rightful place.” American women are still waiting.
Today, President Obama will sign into law the Affordable Health Care for America Act. An initial summary of the wins, losses, and remaining challenges for women’s health and rights.
The White House is an executive order to placate Bart Stupak on a bill that already includes the most wide-ranging restrictions on women’s rights to choose since before Roe v. Wade.
