An Estimated 20.4 Million Women Are Currently Benefiting From Preventive Health Services Guaranteed Under Affordable Care Act
Blunt Amendment Is So Far Reaching It Would Allow Any Corporation or Health Plan to Deny Women and Their Families Access to These Services For Virtually Any Reason
Amendment Set to Receive Senate Vote As Early As This Week
Washington, DC – Today the Democratic Policy and Communications Center released state-by-state data on the potential impact of Senator Roy Blunt’s (R-MO) so called “Respect for Rights of Conscience Act” on women’s access to preventive care. Data recently compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shows that an estimated 20.4 million women are now taking advantage of preventive health care services provided under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the Blunt legislation could put their access to these services at risk. These services will include contraception, mammograms, pre-natal screenings, cervical cancer screenings, flu shots and much more. The legislation has been introduced as an amendment to the surface transportation bill and will likely get a vote in the Senate as early as this week.
A state by state breakdown of the data can be found below and here.
Under the Affordable Care Act many insurance plans are now required to provide free coverage for certain recommended preventive health services. The Blunt Amendment is so extreme that it would allow any corporation or health plan to deny access to these services, for any reason. It provides employers with extraordinarily wide and unprecedented latitude over what should be covered. A corporation could decide, for example, that cancer screenings are driving up their insurance costs and remove them from their health plan. An employer could also deny prenatal care for expecting mothers.
| Estimated Number of Women That Could Lose Access to Preventive Care Under the Blunt Amendment | |
| State | Women |
| Alabama | 319,000 |
| Alaska | 44,000 |
| Arizona | 389,000 |
| Arkansas | 170,000 |
| California | 2,286,000 |
| Colorado | 362,000 |
| Connecticut | 270,000 |
| Delaware | 61,000 |
| District of Columbia | 47,000 |
| Florida | 1,104,000 |
| Georgia | 654,000 |
| Hawaii | 90,000 |
| Idaho | 100,000 |
| Illinois | 898,000 |
| Indiana | 421,000 |
| Iowa | 225,000 |
| Kansas | 198,000 |
| Kentucky | 274,000 |
| Louisiana | 275,000 |
| Maine | 91,000 |
| Maryland | 448,000 |
| Massachusetts | 517,000 |
| Michigan | 692,000 |
| Minnesota | 392,000 |
| Mississippi | 167,000 |
| Missouri | 408,000 |
| Montana | 62,000 |
| Nebraska | 134,000 |
| Nevada | 171,000 |
| New Hampshire | 107,000 |
| New Jersey | 628,000 |
| New Mexico | 111,000 |
| New York | 1,322,000 |
| North Carolina | 600,000 |
| North Dakota | 49,000 |
| Ohio | 797,000 |
| Oklahoma | 236,000 |
| Oregon | 273,000 |
| Pennsylvania | 915,000 |
| Rhode Island | 76,000 |
| South Carolina | 296,000 |
| South Dakota | 56,000 |
| Tennessee | 401,000 |
| Texas | 1,421,000 |
| Utah | 199,000 |
| Vermont | 47,000 |
| Virginia | 576,000 |
| Washington | 483,000 |
| West Virginia | 113,000 |
| Wisconsin | 413,000 |
| Wyoming | 36,000 |
| TOTAL | 20,424,000 |
Data comes from the Department of Health and Human Services – http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2012/PreventiveServices/ib.shtml