Earlier today, Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington) spoke to health care advocates and a top health insurance lobbyist, asking questions more of us should be concerned with. Murray brought up the fact that insurance companies charge women nearly 50 percent more than men in the insurance market, and that women are refused coverage by insurance companies that use pregnancy, C-sections, and domestic abuse as pre-existing conditions.
It's the continuation of a conversation that has been ongoing throughout the health care reform debate, but one that hasn't gotten much media attention. While networks focus on the anger of constituents at town hall meetings, individual stories bring home the kind of discrimination women face daily in a health care system that Murray and others describe as "broken."
A week ago, the Democratic women of the Senate spoke out on the need for health care reform to correct existing inequities that penalize women. The New York Times blog "Prescriptions: Making Sense of the Health Care Debate" highlighted a few of their remarks:
[Minnesota] Senator Amy Klobuchar...described what happened when her newborn daughter was born, unable to swallow. "I was up all night in labor, up all day trying to figure out what was wrong with her, and they literally kicked me out of the hospital....[T]hey had a rule. It was called drive-by births, that when a mom gave birth she had to get kicked out of the hospital in 24 hours."...
[North Carolina] Senator Kay Hagan...told the story...of a constituent's sister, who died in March of breast cancer, after waiting years to get a mammogram because she did not have health insurance and could not afford the cost...."Discriminatory practices in our health care system disproportionately affect women. And in all but 12 states, insurance companies are allowed to charge women more than they charge men for coverage."...
{Michigan] Senator Debbie Stabenow...cited statistics showing that nearly 60 percent of insurance plans sold on the individual market do not offer maternity care. "For the women in these plans, or who are attempting to get insurance, no amount of money can buy maternity care that they need."
Previously, during the Senate Finance Committee debates, Stabenow had defended her position that insurers provide maternity care when Senator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) opposed it on the grounds that it would raise costs:
"I don't need maternity care," Mr. Kyl said. "And so requiring that to be in my insurance policy is something that I don't need and will make the policy more expensive."
Ms. Stabenow interjected: "I think your mom probably did." Mr. Kyl shot back, "Yeah, over 60 years ago my mom did."
Watching C-Span's coverage of the Democratic women senators, I was struck by how heartfelt their speeches were and how deeply personal their reactions were to those who opposed reform.
In discussing the health care issue, Senator Murray has often cited the story of 10-year-old Marcelas Owens of Seattle whose mother Tifanny died because she was uninsured . When illness caused her miss too many days of work as an assistant manager of a fast food restaurant, Tifanny was fired, lost her insurance, and later died due to lack of medical care.
She referenced a similiar debate 16 years ago on the Family and Medical Leave Act during which she also shared a constituent's story. A new member of the Senate at that time, afterwards she was pulled aside by a fellow senator who said to her, "Here in the Senate we don't tell personal stories." Senator Murray's response back them included the same words she used in her speech in support of health care reform last Thursday:
"I came to the Senate to tell personal stories....The status quo that's being defended by the other side is not working....We have to get this right. We need to remember their stories."
The senior Democratic woman in the Senate, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, spoke passionately into a handheld mic from a wheelchair as she delivered her fiery comments:
Health care is a must do women's issue. Health care reform is a must change women's issue. We pay more and get less....A 25 year old woman is charged more than a 25 year old man....At age 40 it's up to 50%....
We get less coverage because health insurance companies have punitive practices....A c-section is a pre-existing condition. A victim of domestic abuse is a pre-existing condition -- battered by men and then battered by the insurance agent...Medicare is a women's issue.
Mikulski paused to gesture to her wheelchair, explaining that she'd had a fall a couple of weeks ago, and added:
"If I didn't have healthcare, I would be bankrupt today....
Let's get rid of the mob scene going around the debate of the health care. Let's focus on human needs."
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