[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 17, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H1564-H1565]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of America's women to urge 
passage of health care reform to benefit our mothers, our sisters, our 
daughters, our families, and our friends. And, of course, when we pass 
health care reform, we will improve health care for all Americans.
  But today I would like to concentrate on why women stand to gain the 
most. Right now, being a woman is reason enough for insurance companies 
to discriminate against us. Today, women are being charged higher 
insurance premiums than men simply for being a woman.
  Our legislation will put an end to this practice by prohibiting a 
practice known as gender rating whereby women are automatically charged 
higher rates. Right now, there are women who have been victims of 
domestic violence who are denied health insurance coverage because 
insurance companies have said that domestic violence is a preexisting 
condition. Our legislation will put an end to this practice and 
expressly prohibit insurance companies from considering domestic 
violence a preexisting condition.
  Right now, many women can only obtain an insurance policy that 
excludes maternity coverage. Our legislation will put an end to this 
practice by requiring coverage for maternity care. These three 
provisions alone will help millions of women in this country.
  Mr. Speaker, as a public health nurse, I'm particularly enthusiastic 
about provisions in the bill to eliminate cost sharing for some of the 
most important preventive services that women should be accessing. And, 
of course, this provision is important for men as well. But many of us, 
especially Members of Congress who already have comprehensive health 
insurance, take it for granted that we are going to get routine 
checkups. There are, however, too many women who forgo screenings for 
conditions like cervical cancer or heart disease because they can't 
afford these screenings, either because they are uninsured or their 
insurance company requires prohibitive copays for routine screening.
  The legislation we will soon pass will ensure that there is no cost 
for patients to be accessing the most important screenings which are 
recommended by medical experts. Those of us in the public health 
community have long been advocating this because costs should never 
stand in the way of lifesaving screening procedures.
  In addition to the ways our legislation will benefit individual 
women, it's important to keep in mind that women are often the health 
care decisionmakers for their households. And that's why we all have 
reason to be so hopeful about how our bill will improve health care for 
families as a whole. Insurance premiums for families have risen at 
alarming rates over the past decade and will continue to rise if we 
don't enact health reform now.
  Middle class families especially have shouldered this burden as the 
rise in premiums has far outpaced any rise in wages. The announcement, 
for example, by Anthem in California that it will raise premiums by up 
to 40 percent is just one of the latest outrages. When premiums become 
too expensive to pay, families are forced to drop coverage. And then 
what happens when someone in the family gets sick? They are forced to 
spend down all their assets until eventually bankruptcy may become 
their only option.
  Mr. Speaker, over half of all bankruptcies in the United States today 
are caused by medical debt. And in 2008, over 900 families in my 
congressional district alone were forced into bankruptcy because of 
medical debt. And

[[Page H1565]]

over half of these medical bankruptcies impact a woman.

                              {time}  1730

  When we pass this legislation, we will put an end to the annual and 
lifetime limits on coverage that many insurance companies currently 
impose on people. And we will put an end to bankruptcies caused by 
medical debt. No longer will families have to raid their savings for a 
home purchase or college tuition because someone falls ill.
  Finally, as a mother and a grandmother, I couldn't be more thrilled 
by the steps we will take to improve health care coverage for our 
country's most precious resource, our children. We will ensure that the 
Children's Health Insurance Program will thrive. We will ensure that 
services like vision and dental care for children are automatically 
included in all health care plans. When the bill is signed into law, 
that very day it will immediately prevent health insurers from imposing 
preexisting condition exclusions on children. And it will immediately 
allow young adults to remain on their parents' health insurance plan 
until their mid-20s so they aren't forced to forego health coverage 
after college graduation.
  So I urge all of my colleagues to support our efforts in health care 
reform with the knowledge of how it will help the women in their lives 
and in their communities.

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