Today we are joining tens of thousands of health care advocates to start making history by calling for health care reform that meets the needs of women and their families. Along with all our partners at Health Care for America Now, the National Women’s Law Center is asking health advocates to contact their Representatives to support the House America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (H.R. 3200).

The House bill (H.R. 3200) will provide quality, affordable, and comprehensive health care. The bill will:

• End unfair and discriminatory insurance industry practices such as gender rating — when women are charged higher premiums than men simply because they are women — and pre-existing condition exclusions;
• Provide affordable coverage;
• Ensure that medical experts — not Congress — decide what's in a comprehensive health package, including whether to cover abortion and other reproductive health care; and
• Help lower costs for those of us who have insurance.

And it is paid for fairly and responsibly.

The opposition is pulling out all the stops to block health care reform that meets the needs of women and their families. Reform opponents, including industry groups and some naysayers in Congress, are using scare tactics and ratcheting up anti-choice threats in hopes of delaying health coverage for millions of Americans during this great time of need. And as we continue to move closer towards achieving reform, these opponents are becoming increasingly negative — putting politics before the health of women and their families.

With 14,000 Americans becoming uninsured every day, with three out of five women saying they cannot pay their medical bills, and with more women than men saying they skip medical care because they cannot afford it, there is no more critical time than today to make our voices heard. Women and their families can simply not wait any longer for health reform.