News release
What Would You Ask Your Senator About Health Care Reform?
July 1, 2010
Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996
Senators Answer Moms’ Questions About Health Care Reform; Reduce Confusion, Provide Education On How New Law Works
As health care reform begins to take effect, moms across the country have questions about how the law will affect them and their families. MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground grassroots organization that supports family-friendly policies, is getting answers from the people who know the legislation best – the Senators who helped craft it.
MomsRising today launched a series of online video chats during which Senators answer questions about health care reform from their constituents and explain how health reform will benefit moms and kids. The questions come directly from MomsRising members and parents in the Senators’ states.
Senators Robert Menendez (New Jersey), Jeff Merkley (Oregon) and Tom Udall (New Mexico) all recorded video chats that are now available online.
“With all the political rhetoric that surrounded the health care reform debate, we can understand how families across the country might be unclear about what’s in the new law,” said MomsRising Executive Director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. “We want to help clear up any confusion, and make sure they know how it will impact children, moms, dads and families.”
MomsRising encourages parents to continue to submit questions through the website, in addition to those that have been gathered through e-outreaches in each Senator’s state. The questions collected to date include:
- How will health reform address mental health issues like postpartum depression?
- Is there anything in health reform to promote breastfeeding?
- Do my older children need to be enrolled in school to benefit from new provisions allowing parents to keep up to 26-year-old children on their health insurance policies?
- How will health reform help me keep health coverage for my daughter who has special needs even if I lose my job?
“The new health care law has important benefits for families that take effect this year,” said Senator Tom Udall. “I’m honored to help MomsRising get this crucial information to many of our families’ first responders — moms.”
“Moms not only have their own unique health care needs, but very often, they make the health care decisions for their families,” said Senator Robert Menendez. “That's why it's so important for New Jersey's mothers to understand the new family health insurance rights established in this law, and I am very pleased to be able to work with MomsRising in this effort. There are benefits in this law for every group that has paid too much and gotten too little in return from the insurance system. The more people learn about what is in this law for them, they understand that it is about instituting common sense protections and badly-needed affordability in the insurance market, which are goals we can all support. Working with groups that educate the public on these realities of the law is of the utmost importance, and MomsRising is certainly at the forefront of that initiative.”
The video chats are being launched at the same time as a new web site from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health care.gov. This site will allow visitors to research and compare insurance plans, and to determine their eligibility for public programs like Medicare, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and pre-existing condition insurance plans.