Obamacare’s Negative Impacts Particularly Hard on Women
July 15, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate Floor regarding the struggles of Middle-Class women under Obamacare:
“We hear the President is planning to spend the week calling for Congress to pass highway funding legislation that Congress is already planning to pass. Well, it seems odd for the President to be focusing so intently on something that’s inevitable, while ignoring other issues that must also be addressed. Issues like Obamacare.
“So many middle-class families in my state and across the country continue to suffer from the impacts of this law.
“And one thing that becomes increasingly clear with each passing day is the extent to which Obamacare is particularly hard on women.
“Research shows that women make about 80 percent of the health care decisions for their families in this country.
“And yet Obamacare has caused countless women to lose the health care plans they had and liked.
“When these women first spoke out about the betrayal they felt when they lost their plans, many of the law’s supporters waved their concerns away.
“They said they were lying, or that their plans were ‘junk’ because, of course, they knew better.
“It’s a pattern that seems to have continued ever since.
“American women also now have fewer choices of doctors and hospitals under Obamacare. The bill’s supporters have continually waved those concerns aside too.
“Millions of Americans use Flexible Spending Accounts to pay for out-of-pocket health care expenses. But Obamacare imposes arbitrary limits on how much of a family’s own, hard-earned money can be set aside, and the law also prevents people who’ve come to depend on FSAs from using them to pay for common expenses like allergy medicine and cold medication.
“Obamacare’s cuts to Medicare Advantage and other regulatory actions could reduce the average benefit for women and men who rely on this program by more than $1,500 a year. Concerns like these are all brushed aside by Obamacare’s supporters.
“Washington should also be looking for ways to grow economic opportunities for women. But Obamacare does just the opposite.
“I’ve heard from businesses large and small in Kentucky who fear they just won’t be able to cope with the higher costs of coverage under Obamacare.
“They don’t want to cut hours for their staffs or eliminate jobs, but many may no longer have a choice. Many of them are worried about new mandates that place millions of Americans — nearly two-thirds of them women — at risk of having their hours and wages reduced.
“One of my constituents from Somerset recently wrote to tell me what this new Obamacare mandate has meant for her. ‘I’m employed at a major chain putting these rules into effect now,’ she said. ‘This is causing us to lose up to eleven hours per week averaging $440.00 per month…[less] in wages. Obamacare [is] causing us to lose hours [and] lose wages, yet expecting us to spend more.’
“Let me just repeat that.
“She says Obamacare is causing her to lose hundreds of dollars a month in lost wages. But at the same time, Obamacare is causing health care costs to skyrocket for many Americans.
“It’s not right.
“And yet, despite these terrible stories that keep pouring into our offices, the people who supported this law when it passed and they continue to defend it now.
“We kept warning them that Obamacare would hurt jobs and increase costs. They had to know that Obamacare was going to reduce choices for women and limit their access to certain doctors and hospitals. But Washington Democrats voted for Obamacare anyway.
“They created these problems. And that’s why they should be working with Republicans now to start over with real, patient-centered reform that lowers costs and that women and men in this country actually want. But they refuse. They’re just doubling down on Obamacare.
“And now they’re trying to convince people of another untruth — that somehow it’s not possible to preserve our nation’s long tradition of tolerance and respect for people of faith while at the same time preserving a woman’s ability to make her own decisions about contraception.
“And Washington Democrats are doing this based on a claim that, in the words of the Washington Post’s non-partisan fact checker, is ‘simply wrong.’
“So I realize that Democrats may think the best way to keep people from focusing on the impact of Obamacare on middle-class families is to just make things up — and to attempt to divide us.
“Well, I think that’s a shame. And I think it takes a pretty dim view of what we’re capable of as a country.
“The goal here shouldn’t be to protect the freedoms of some while denying the freedoms of others.
“The goal here — and always — should be to preserve everyone’s freedoms.
“We can do both.
“And that’s just what a number of us on this side are proposing to do this week.
“Instead of restricting Americans’ religious freedoms, we should preserve a woman’s ability to make contraceptive decisions for herself.
“And that’s why we plan to introduce legislation this week that says no employer can block any employee from legal access to her FDA-approved contraceptives.
“So there’s no disagreement on that fundamental point.
“The American people know that.
“They know Democrats are just attempting to offer another false choice here.
“What we’re saying is that of course you can support both religious freedom and access to contraception.
“Look: if Washington Democrats really wanted to help women, they’d work with us to do so.
“We’ve been imploring them to work with us to deliver relief to middle-class women for years now.
“To work with us on a new approach to a health care law that’s hurting millions of American women.
“It’s not too late.
“Work with us to increase jobs, wages, and opportunity at a time when American women are experiencing so much hardship as a result of this administration’s policies — especially Obamacare.”