[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 21, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H1440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1220
                     AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AND WOMEN

  (Ms. SLAUGHTER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Madam Speaker, 2 years ago, I was really honored to 
serve as the chair of the House Committee on Rules and bring this 
historic Affordable Care Act to the House floor. It was one of my 
proudest moments. I'm standing here today, equally proud to defend that 
law from the ongoing war on women.
  When it comes to health care, women are classified as a preexisting 
condition. For decades, women have been routinely charged more for 
health insurance than a man who seeks the very same coverage.
  Did you know that if a business employs more women than men, it can 
choose to raise everybody's premiums, regardless of gender, to cover 
the higher cost, which is, in their mind, of insuring women?
  Women not only pay for standard insurance coverage, but they also pay 
a separate cost for maternity coverage. In Illinois, a 30-year-old 
woman must pay $278 a month and an additional $270 a month for 
maternity coverage in case she needs it.
  Insurance companies claim that these added costs are because women 
are more likely to visit doctors, get checkups, take prescription 
drugs, and have illnesses. Everyone knows that preventative care--
everyone but the insurance companies, apparently--saves us money in the 
long run. We women in the majority of the United States are tired of 
being second-class citizens.

                          ____________________