Health Issues Affecting Women: Health Insurance Coverage And The Affordable Care Act

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In an interview with Medscape Medical News, AHIP spokeswoman Kristine Grow said that the association’s main focus is to ensure that people are covered continuously, especially if the insurers have to cover preexisting conditions. It’s less about the individual mandate and more about solving that problem of how to get people to sign up. That the health insurers can plan for the individual market in 2018 and beyond, aHIP is waiting to see what Congress is preparing to do about the ACA, she added. It probably won’t have much impact on insurance coverage or the state and federal insurance marketplaces, experts say, A recent Internal Revenue Service decision associated with the Affordable Care Act might decrease the actual number of people who sign up for hospital insurance. Hundreds of the American public is supportive of contraception and greater use of effective methods is credited for the declines in teen and unintended pregnancy rates,1314 yet contraceptive access and coverage was squarely in the middle of political disputes.

Whenever asserting they provide an underserved patient population with a broader range of reproductive health services and supplies than other health centers have the capacity to handle, the Democratic Party’s platform commits to protecting federal funding for Planned Parenthood centers.

Although the media is focused most intensely on the presidential elections the choices made in state houses and capitols across the country will also greatly impact women’s health care, wheneverit gets to health and access to care.

Whatever the result, the 2016 election cycle is certain to have significant ramifications for health care, and especially for women’s health. So Democratic and Republican Parties have outlined distinct, and often diametrically opposing, policy proposals addressing private and public hospital insurance coverage, reproductive health, and paid leave, among other problems, that will affect women in nearly any stage of life. These policies reflect the parties’ very different approaches to the role of government, regulation, and abortion policy. ‘out of pocket’ costs are still a challenge for many women, even those with private coverage, women have benefitted from increased coverage under the ACA.

In 2012, out of pocket spending among females was about $ 236 higher per capita, as well as grew at a faster rate, than their male counterparts dot 8 This is in part owing to spending on childbirth and maternity care.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Personal Health Care Spending by Age and Gender Highlights. Actually the Democratic and Republican platforms both speak to their support of the appointment of justices that share their respective views on abortion. Zubik and Hobby Lobby, that addressed the ACA’s contraceptive coverage mandate and the religious rights of employers, and most recently, Whole Woman’s Health, that addressed abortion clinic regulations. That is interesting. In just the past two years, the court heard three landmark cases affecting women’s health. Doesn’t it sound familiar? The Democrats have specified that they will seek nominees who support a woman’s right to a safe and legal abortion.

By the way, the Republicans seek to overturn Roe v Wade through the appointment of justices who oppose abortion. Therefore three of the remaining seven justices well over the age of 75 years, the next president will likely appoint more than one justice to the Supreme Court during their term, with the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the ACA gave states the option to extend Medicaid coverage for all adults up to 138percent of the Federal Poverty Level. With Medicaid serving as the foundation of the law’s coverage expansions dot 4 Historically, the Obama Administration estimates that nearly 20 million people gained coverage under the ACA, women were more likely than men to qualify for Medicaid because of their lower incomes and greater likelihood of meeting the ‘preACA’ categorical eligibility requirements as a pregnant woman, senior, or an individual with a disability. Now let me tell you something. Basically the ACA prohibits insurers from denying coverage to individuals depending on preexisting conditions just like a history of domestic violence, Caesarean section, or breast cancer.

However, a recent proposal released by Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan will eliminate federal coverage requirements on individuals and employers, and phase out further Medicaid expansion dot 7 The Republicans will convert Medicaid to a block grant, that they argue should increase accountability, budget predictability, and flexibility for states to meet the needs of their unique populations, Their platform provides little detail with regard to a replacement health care plan.

Those who do not could’ve been turned down for coverage, the Republican proposal will ban such exclusions against individuals that maintain continuous coverage.

Basically the Democratic Party supports the law, and it will encourage expansion nationwide, though it provides no specific information on how it will accomplish this goal. Meanwhile, the Republican Party has repeatedly called for the repeal of the ACA since it was signed into law. Medicare program is a critical source of coverage and economic security for seniors, particularly older women for a whileer lifespans, poorer health status, and are more likely than men to for awhileterm’ care supports dot 15 The candidates and their parties have very different proposals regarding Medicare.

Actually the Democrats propose allowing individuals 55 to 64 to buy into the program, whereas the Republicans would raise the eligibility age as well as fundamentally change the program’s structure from primarily fee for service to a defined contribution model in which the federal government should provide a payment on behalf of any beneficiary ward the purchase of a private plan or traditional Medicare.The Republicans’ proposed repeal of the ACA could also eliminate Medicare’s no cost coverage for preventive services, just like mammograms and bone density testing recommended for a while because they are twice as likely as older men to live alone dot 16 The Democrats also identify the need to improve pay and training for caregivers, both platforms state that they favor policies that will that is especially important for older women, a lot of whom are women, and propose passing a law that provides workers at least 12 paid weeks time off to care for aging or sick relatives as well as for a new child. Do not address paid leave in their party platform, they also support establishing more federal regulations on women’s access to abortion.

Republicans, actually, propose a complete overhaul of the ACA and the Medicaid program to return authority to the states.

The differences between the policy approaches to various sides of women’s health taken by the two presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and their respective parties are stark dot 12 The Democrats support the continuation and strengthening of the Affordable Care Act, paid leave for parents and caregivers, and protection of women’s access to the full range of reproductive healthcare.

That’s a fact, it’s in the course of the presidential election cycle that the contrasts between candidates and political parties become the most crystalized in the eyes of the public, despite all elections matter. Besides, the parties’ policies addressing reproductive health reflect very different strategies to further reduce these rates. Now look, the Democrats call for a strong defense of a woman’s access to the ‘full range’ of reproductive healthcare, evidence based sex education, and the elimination of the Hyde Amendment, that bans federal funds from being used to pay for abortions unless the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, or a threat to life of the woman.

In contrast, the Republicans will promote additional restrictions on abortion access, remove family planning programs from schools, and prioritize the rights of providers and employers to refuse the provision of services that they claim violate their religious beliefs. In 2011, approximately 45percent of all pregnancies in the United States were unintended, and 4 in 10 of those pregnancies ended in abortion dot 10 Although these rates are at ‘alltime’ lows, they still remain a major source of concern. Approximately one in five women report having been raped at some point in their lives, and one in four women have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner dot 17 Federal authority, similar to that provided by the Violence Against Women Act, currently funds various violence prevention efforts, support services for survivors, and enforcement mechanisms. In recent years the real problem of sexual violence and assault has gained recognition as a preventable health problem that disproportionately affects women. For example, the Republican platform asserts that sexual assault might be handled by civil authorities and prosecuted by the courts and criticizes federal agencies’ involvement in the investigation and punishment of campus sexual assault.

By the way, the Democratic platform provides support for survivors of sexual assault and increases sexual violence prevention programs in schools. They also support the continuation of VAWA’s law enforcement provisions. However, women are also divided in what they for a while party lines, Health care is a key issue for women voters. Overall, Democratic women who prioritize health care problems rank efforts to reduce the uninsured at the top, whereas Republican women most possibly will favor repealing the law. Reducing health care costs is an area of common concern. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Health Insurance Coverage and the Affordable Care Act.

So Federal Hyde Amendment, that greatly restricts federal funding for abortion, was first passed in 1976 and was renewed annually ever since as an attachment to federal appropriations bills.

It will extend this ban to federal subsidies for insurance plans that include abortion coverage, that would go further than the current provisions under the ACA that already require insurance plans to separate federal funding from any abortion coverage they may provide.

‘one half’ of women seeking abortions live below the federal poverty line dot 11 In contrast, the Republican platform seeks to codify the Hyde Amendment, permanently banning the use of federal funds for abortion, For the first time, the 2016 Democratic platform has called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, that the party argues disproportionately limits ‘lowincome’ women’s access to abortion services. By the way, the Republicans also support proposed federal laws just like the Human Life Amendment, that would extend constitutional protections to fetuses, and the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would ban abortion after 20 weeks, legislation that was enacted in quite a few states. Consequently, the plan also prioritizes protections for providers and employers to exercise religious objections to abortion and promotes legislation that would enforce civil and criminal penalties on providers that struggle to provide treatment to an infant who survives an abortion.

Especially, it places considerable funding constraints on millions of women enrolled in Medicaid as well as others covered by federal programs, similar to the military and Indian Health Service.

Updated their labeling this year to include changes in the dosing amount and regimen, on p of an increase in the gestational age limit at which the drug is considered safe and effective, the party also objects to the Food and Drug Administration ‘s approval of mifepristone. Which accounts for nearly one in four abortion procedures dot 12 The FDA first approved the drug in 2000.

They oppose the use of embryonic stem cells and propose criminalizing the purchase, transfer, or sale of fetal tissue for scientific research, The Republicans’ opposition to abortion extends to its research platform as well.

Health coverage and affordability are critical problems for women who, compared with men, have greater health care needs and expenses, lower incomes, and are going to use prescription drugs.

The uninsured rate of women ages 1864″ decreased from 19 dot 3 to 10 dot 8, and millions of women have gained coverage for preventive services without cost sharing dot 3 The law has also ensured that all plans include a minimum floor of benefits by requiring plans to cover certain services, just like mammography, prenatal care, pap smears, and contraceptives, and includes considerable protections against gender discrimination, since the passage of the ACA.

Out of pocket costs, however, are an ongoing problem for many women. Repeal of the ACA would likely lift its bans on genderbased premium pricing, a regular practice in the individual insurance market prior to the passage of the ACA that allowed insurers to charge women higher premiums on the basis of their gender.

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