LatinaLista — Friday, March 23, is the two-year anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known in conservative circles (negatively) as “Obamacare.” Yet, for the person/family who doesn’t have the luxury of having an employer supply insurance, or has a pre-existing medical condition or lives check-to-check such that any extra costs for medicine, doctor’s visits or treatment would have been seen in the past as a luxury, rather than the necessity it is, “Obamacare” is a godsend.
The most recent spotlight over the Affordable Care Act may have started with the political debate over contraception but it’s evolving into a national realization that too many families are suffering — ironically, the same people the Republican presidential nominees always like to cite they’ve met on the campaign trail when they’re bashing their Democratic rival.
However, it’s clear that while some would like the debate over the Affordable Care Act to be seen only as a political fight over the costs of implementing this medical reform or an infringement on state or religious freedoms, it means much more to women, who under the ACA no longer have to make co-payments when getting routine preventive care or contraceptive services/products, etc.
For tight budgets, such a change in access to healthcare is revolutionary and that’s why many women feel conservatives have launched a “War on Women” — even women in their own party have lashed out.
This morning, Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison took on the state’s governor, and former GOP presidential nominee, Rick Perry, and blasted him for what he’s doing to low-income women in Texas.
Hutchison defended Planned Parenthood and criticized Texas Gov. Rick Perry for excluding the organization from the state’s healthcare program…Last year, the Texas Legislature passed a law that bans state funding for clinics that provide abortion services. Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of abortions in the country, though the organization predominantly deals with family planning and women’s health services.
The federal government choked off funding to Texas’s Women’s Health Program on Thursday.
“I do think that the governor needs to sit down with the federal government and work it out so that we can have our share, our fair share, not more, of money for Medicaid to help low-income women have their healthcare services,” Hutchison said.
The women of Texas have also spoken out on the matter by flooding the governor’s Facebook page with sarcastic health questions. The governor of Kansas also got the same cyber treatment.
Critics are saying that it’s abortion rights activists who are doing the posting on each governor’s Facebook accounts but abortion has less to do with it than the fact that male politicians are still trying to make healthcare decisions for women in these economic times when women can least afford such misguided “help.”
While Gov. Perry and his conservative peers see the ACA as an attack on religious and state choices, it’s clear that more women are dealing with the reality of their financial and medical situations and want the right to have a program in place that can give them peace of mind — and the freedom to choose for themselves.
This Friday, a national conversation about the constitutionality and legality of the Affordable Care Act will be carried out on Twitter by Families USA, Mom’s Rising, and National Council of La Raza. The three organizations will bombard Twitter with ACA facts and show how the law is working and saving families money across the country.
Anyone with a story to share is encouraged to join in the conversation on Twitter using #HCRatStake.
