NEW REPORT FINDS MCCAIN’S HEALTH PLAN “WORSE FOR WOMEN”; PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND AND CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND RELEASE NEW ANALYSIS OF MCCAIN’S HEALTH CARE PLAN

Contact: Tait Sye, 202-973-4882      For Immediate Release: 09.10.08

Washington, DC— The Planned Parenthood Action Fund and the Center for American Progress Action Fund released a new study this week examining the potential effects of the McCain health care plan on women. The analysis found that McCain’s supposed “reforms” would actually leave more women struggling more than ever to find affordable health coverage and basic care.

According to Planned Parenthood Action Fund Vice President for Public Policy Laurie Rubiner, “Millions of women are uninsured because they do not have access to health insurance through their employers or insurance companies deny them coverage because of pre-existing conditions, which can include pregnancy. The bottom line is that any health care reform plan should increase, not decrease, access to affordable, quality care. By that standard, McCain’s plan is a failure.”

If enacted, the McCain plan would drastically restructure America’s health care system and dangerously destabilize the employer-based health care system upon which 160 million non-elderly Americans rely for their health care. According to the Tax Policy Center, his approach would cause an estimated 20 million people to lose their employer-sponsored coverage over 10 years.

The McCain plan encourages healthier, younger individuals to opt out of employer-based plans for lower-premium, lower-coverage plans, leaving older people and those with more health care needs behind. These individuals, many of whom are women because they tend to have higher health care costs than men, will face rising premiums over time as their peers opt out because of cost pressures. The tax credits offered as incentives under the McCain plan would do little to help since they would not even cover the basic costs of insurance.

But the consequences of this proposal would extend far beyond cost: women across the country would find themselves without the protections currently afforded to them under existing state laws.

Currently, insurance is regulated at the state level, and there are dozens of state laws across the country that protect and improve women’s access to basic health care services. For example, 31 states require comprehensive drug benefit plans to include contraception, while 21 states require coverage of maternity care, and 29 states require coverage of cervical cancer screening. McCain’s plan would preempt these protections, and patients are the ones who would suffer.

“In short, McCain’s health care plan might be a good deal for health care companies, but consumers will face higher costs and more risk. We have a health care crisis in this country, and America demands real solutions. This plan is not even a good start,” said Rubiner.

Read full study HERE