What Health Care Reform Means to Women

By Cindy Pearson, co-founder of Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need

For the tenth #HERvotes blog carnival, we’re celebrating the second anniversary of the new health-reform law, the Affordable Care Act, or ACA.

Why are women so excited about the ACA? Well, for a start, the law has already started removing barriers to health care and improving services for millions of women and our families, helping us access the care we need to stay healthy.

This week’s #HERvotes blog carnival is going to raise women’s voices all across the country. We will tell our stories of how the Affordable Care Act has helped us, what is still wrong with our health care system and what we’re doing to make a difference. We will express our anger about the insurance company abuses–such as charging us more than men for our health insurance–that will continue until the ACA is fully implemented. And perhaps most importantly, we’ll share why this important advance for women should be upheld by the Supreme Court when it takes up the Affordable Care Act next week.

Please join us in lifting our voices–because we all have something to gain from the Affordable Care Act.

You can participate by telling your own story and by sharing the posts below on Facebook, Twitter (using the hashtag #HERvotes) and other social media.

#HERvotes, a multi-organization campaign launched in August 2011, advocates women using our voices and votes to stop the attacks on the women’s movement’s major advances, many of which are at risk in the next election.

Read more:

As ACA Faces a Supreme Court Challenge, Who Is at Stake?– Shivana Jorawar, NAPAWF

Stand Up For Health Care Tumblr– NARAL Pro-Choice America

10 Things to LOVE About the Affordable Care Act– Debra Ness, National Partnership for Women and Families

Celebrate Second Anniversary of Affordable Care Act– Family Values @ Work

The Affordable Care Act: Hope for Health Care Equality For All– Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health via RHRealityCheck

Health Insurance Access for Young Latina Adults – National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

Health Reform to Expand Reach of Community Health Centers– National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

No Co-pay for Pregnancy Care is Good for Latina Moms and Babies – National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

Medicaid to Service 6 Million More  – National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

Prevention Saves Latinas’ Lives – National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

Insurance protections for Latinas’ with Pre-Existing Conditions – National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

Cervical Cancer Prevention for Latinas – National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

No Co-Pays for STI/HIV Testing – National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

Showing love for women, mothers and Babies – National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

The Affordable Care Act Turns 2 – No Baby Step for Women– Gloria Lau, YWCA USA

Why It’s Time for Women’s Rights– Sophia Yen and Ellen Shaffer, Trust Women/Silver Ribbon Campaign

20 Million Women and Counting …Two Years of the Affordable Care Act– Jacqueline M., Planned Parenthood Action Fund

Thank you, ACA: Protecting Our Country’s Well-being by Protecting Students–  Andrea Alajbegovic, National Women’s Law Center

New Options for Those with Chronic Illness–  Dania Palanker, National Women’s Law Center

Affordable Care Act: A Necessity for Women’s Health– Katharine Nasielski, Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism

How the ACA is Helping My Family–  Sarah Robinson, National Women’s Law Center

The Limbo of a College Graduate–  Brittany Papalia, National Women’s Law Center

Preventative Care: Protect the Affordable Care Act– Mallen Urso, National Women’s Political Caucus

Why I Support the Health Care Law– Amy Cotton, National Council of Jewish Women

Where Would Women be Today without the Landmark Programs that were Enacted Over the Last 45 Years to Protect and Advance Women’s Health?– Raising Women’s Voices

The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on One Young Woman– Lindsay Yancich, NOW

Why We Need the Affordable Care Act- Julie Seger, AAUW

Healthcare Stories the Supreme Court Needs to Read– Nancy Keenan, NARAL Pro-Choice America

Today’s Story on How Health Reform Helps Women– NARAL’s Blog for Choice

HERvotes Blog Carnival: Gen Y Women Benefit from the Affordable Health Care Act- Business and Professional Women’s Foundation

Celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act!- Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, MomsRising

2 Year Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act-What’s In It for Young People?- Sarah Audelo, Advocates for Youth

The Affordable Care Act and Women’s Health– National Association of Social Workers

Health Reform: Winning for Women– Tara Mancini, WIN’s Women’s Health Policy Network

Two Years Later, Reflections on the Landmark Health Care Law, Miri Cypers, Jewish Women International

Real Stories on Why Health-Care Reform Helps Women,Thomas Dollar, NARAL Pro-Choice America *updated daily*

 

Photo of Barack Obama signing the Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010, from Wikimedia Commons.

About

Cindy Pearson is Executive Director of the National Women's Health Network and co-founder of Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need.