Including a public option makes good sense and will help control costs, that a majority of voters want, and that an overwhelming percentage of physicians support. The public option should have been included.
NOW has long argued that single-payer health care is the best way to achieve the goal of universal, comprehensive and affordable care for everyone.
In the private insurance market women are currently charged much more because of maternity care they may need. Some policies even exclude maternity care completely.
NOW is incensed that President Barack Obama agreed today to issue an executive order designed to appease a handful of anti-choice Democrats who have held up health care reform in an effort to restrict women’s access to abortion. Through this order, the president has announced he will lend the weight of his office and the entire executive branch to the anti-abortion measures included in the Senate bill, which the House is now prepared to pass.
As a longtime proponent of health care reform, I truly wish that the National Organization for Women could join in celebrating the historic passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It pains me to have to stand against what many see as a major achievement. But feminist, progressive principles are in direct conflict with many of the compromises built into and tacked onto this legislation.