[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 40 (Thursday, March 18, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H1627-H1628]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1815
                         WOMEN AND HEALTH CARE

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, our long-overdue health insurance reforms 
will put women's health on an equal footing at long last. It will 
transform the lives of American women of all ages for the better.
  Younger women will be able to remain on their parents' policy as 
dependents until they reach 26 years of age. That means affordable care 
for everything from regular checkups to unexpected illness or injury. 
It means if they decide to become pregnant, finally there will be 
coverage for maternity and well-child care.
  Working women shopping for their family's coverage will be glad to 
know that the reforms will require insurance companies to have 
unprecedented

[[Page H1628]]

transparency about what really is and is not covered. The reforms will 
cap out-of-pocket expenses and give Americans sliding-scale 
affordability credits to help them buy coverage.
  Older women on Medicare will benefit from closing the doughnut hole 
and ensuring important preventive services like mammograms and cancer 
screenings are free of charge.
  And finally, all women will benefit from an end to the discriminatory 
practices of gender rating and from making prevention and wellness a 
critical part of health care at last. For themselves, their spouses, 
their friends, daughters, and mothers, I urge my colleagues to pass 
this legislation.

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