Contact: Aketa Marie Simmons
(202) 579-5571
For Immediate Release
 
WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Representative Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) joined Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Democratic Whip Clyburn and other Members of Congress in launching the new, blended America's Affordable Health Care Act of 2009 (H.R. 3962).

She was joined by Mrs. Jodie Miller, a Maryland mother who conceived triplets through in vitro fertilization. Mrs. and Mr. Miller were later denied health coverage because their insurance company declared that they had pre-existing conditions; infertility and spousal infertility, respectively. America's Affordable Health Care Act will outlaw such discrimination based on pre-existing conditions.

Rep. Fudge stated, “America's Affordable Health Care Act will make gender rating illegal. Never again will insurance companies be able to deny women coverage for c-sections, because we are pregnant, or because we are victims of domestic violence. Never again will insurance companies be able to deny us coverage just for being women.”

Rep. Fudge has been actively engaged in the reform discussion to benefit Ohioans. As a Member of the Committee on Education and Labor, she reviewed the bill in draft form and amended it to require that small businesses receive personalized counseling on how best to meet the requirements of the bill.  

Additionally, she led the inclusion of an important provision that requires the Advisory Committee on Health Workforce Evaluation and Assessment to monitor the retention and expansion of the health workforce to ensure its quality and adequacy in the wake of reform.

In separate legislation, Rep. Fudge introduced the Health Information Technology Public Utility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3124) that would assist health facilities across the nation, particularly free clinics, transition to computerized health records.

Click here to see a video of Rep. Fudge's remarks at today's launch event.

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