Women's Health Movement Suffers Blow
WASHINGTON - “While disappointing, today’s decision by a federal judge not to block Virginia’s challenge to health reform implementation is neither unexpected nor consequential. It means more legal maneuvers and more court costs, but it does not change the essential fact that women and families in this nation urgently need reform and the consumer protections it brings.
Without reform, women who are fighting breast or ovarian cancer, heart disease, stroke or Alzheimer’s will also have to fight insurers that drop our policies or delay or deny life-saving care.
Without reform, consumers will continue to suffer due to unscrupulous insurance practices.
Without reform, insurance companies will continue rescinding our coverage when we get sick, putting restrictive caps on our coverage when we need it most, and excluding children and adults with pre-existing conditions from their policies.
Without reform, patients will continue to suffer without the preventive care and care coordination they urgently need.
To continue this case is not good for the more than four million Virginia women – 1.6 million of them of childbearing age – who will benefit from the new law’s protections. It is not good for those of us who have pre-existing conditions or multiple chronic diseases. It is not good for the country. Attorney General Cuccinelli may think continuing this case is good for his career, but we urge him to reconsider. The status quo is simply unacceptable. The Affordable Care Act offers the solutions Americans need, and tying it up in court helps nobody.”
