Female Senators Stand Up For Women’s Health

John DuBois, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

According to a group of female U.S. Senators, women have to pay one and a half times more for health insurance than men nationwide. In addition, the Senators said that women tend to need more hospital care then men making them more susceptible to higher rates.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Barbara Mikulski (D-M.D.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) spoke at an event called “Standing Up For Women’s Health” Thursday along side National Women’s Law Center Co-President Marcia Greenberger.

“If we look at statistics, its estimated 64 million women lack….health insurance. Over half of medical bankruptcies are filled by female headed households. [For} too many women and their families, getting quality healthcare is not available for them today,” Shaheen said.

“Women want healthcare reform and they want it now,” Klobuchar said.

The Senators said that the majority of individual health insurance policies in the U.S. do not cover maternity care because it is considered to be a pre-existing condition.

“As you think of these women who are already battered and in a weak and vulnerable state and to find out they can’t even go see a doctor which is a part of their recovery and they can’t even mend because they have been domestically abused. This is why it’s important to get rid of these pre-existing condition rules,” Klobuchar said.