Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Tuesday, December 16, Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03) released the following statement on Rules Republicans’ passage of the Rule to move the so called “Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act,” which restricts insurance plans from covering abortion care, increases costs, and takes health care away from millions of women and families.

“Trump and Republicans are back at it again attacking women’s health care. Let me highlight three ways in which this bill attacks women. 

First, it enacts a back-door abortion ban by forcing private insurance companies to drop abortion coverage in order to receive federal funding. With this ban in place, millions of women would lose access to abortion care even in states where full reproductive health care is legal. Without abortion care, women will face devastating pregnancy complications and die. In states with abortion bans, there were 478 excess infant deaths, 59 excess pregnancy-associated deaths, and a 50% increase in the sepsis rate among women who lost their pregnancies.

Second, the Republican bill does not require health care plans they are promoting in this bill to cover many of the essential benefits that Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans cover including maternity and prenatal care. This would leave moms and babies without the care they need for healthy pregnancies. 

Third, the Republican bill promotes Association Health Plans (AHPs) which can set premiums based on non-health factors like gender and age. This means that women can be charged more just for being women. This could leave businesses with predominantly female workforces, such as home health and child care businesses, paying more for coverage or left behind altogether.

Meanwhile, the ACA tax credits—a solution that Americans want—expire in 16 days. Republicans refuse to work with us to extend those lifesaving tax credits or to lower costs for America’s women and families. 

Democrats passed the ACA to increase the number of Americans with health insurance and to make sure basic health care was covered in marketplace insurance plans. We empowered states to provide plans that reflected the needs of their communities. Before the ACA, you could get denied health care insurance coverage if you had a pre-existing condition, and being a woman of child-bearing age was often considered a pre-existing condition. The ACA requires that marketplace plans cover maternity care, preventative services such as cervical cancer screenings and mammograms, and FDA-approved birth control. Republicans want to undermine and undo the ACA. And, without action, critical health care will be ripped from millions of women, leaving them bankrupt or forced to make impossible choices between seeing a doctor or having food on the table. 

Tonight, the Republican-led Rules committee rejected amendments, three led by Republicans, that would extend the ACA tax credits for one to three years. Women want us to extend these tax credits, so why doesn’t Speaker Johnson? We are now asking four Republicans to find the courage to sign Leader Jeffries’ discharge petition to extend the ACA tax credits which already has 214 signatures. We won’t stop fighting for women and families across every corner of the country.” 

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