Gender Is Not A Pre-Existing Condition, Says Women’s Law Center

By Marianna Levyash-Talk Radio News Service

The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), a non-profit organization that protects women’s legal rights, held a news conference Tuesday morning, announcing their new public awareness campaign titled “Being a Woman is Not a Pre-Existing Condition.”

The NWLC found that many women pay more than men and get less coverage than they need, a practice called gender rating.

Women may also be denied coverage because of “pre-existing conditions”, such as having a cesarean section or surviving domestic abuse.

“Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) is right now circulating a dear colleague letter to the Senate Leadership to ensure that the merged health reform legislation will ban gender rating for all groups regardless of size,” announced NWLC Co-President Marcia D. Greenberger.

The campaign includes a new website, video, newly designed t-shirts, and events that provide information to help both men and women understand how important it is for women to have affordable and beneficial health care.

The goal of the NWLC is to teach women about health care coverage and unite them to contact their members of Congress to call for health care reform legislation that works for women.

“The need is as urgent today as when we issued our first report one year ago…today we release the center’s new report, still nowhere to turn,” said Greenberger.

Those who wish to join the campaign can visit www.awomanisnotapreexistingcondition.com to get more information.