April 2, 2014
 
Representative Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) (click here) proposed budget for fiscal year 2015 includes devastating cuts to the health care programs women and families rely on. Ryan would repeal the Affordable Care Act, make drastic cuts to Medicaid, and convert Medicare into a limited premium subsidy. These changes would leave millions of women and their families without the financial security of high-quality health insurance, unable to access the health care services they need, and facing dramatic increases in their healthcare costs....

...If adopted, this budget proposal would:

Repealing the ACA would cause millions of women to lose affordable health coverage through Medicaid and private plans offered through Health Insurance Marketplaces. By repealing the entire law, Ryan would also allow insurance companies to once again deny women insurance coverage because of “pre-existing conditions” including a history of domestic violence, breast and cervical cancer, and C-sections.

Ryan would allow insurance companies to return to charging women higher health insurance premiums than men, a practice known as gender rating. His budget proposal would also allow insurance companies to return to selling inadequate coverage that fails to meet women’s health care needs, such as policies that lack maternity coverage. Previously, 92 percent of the best-selling plans on the individual market practiced gender rating and only 12 percent covered maternity care.

Repealing the ACA would increase out-of-pocket costs for preventive services women need such as mammograms, pap smears, colonoscopies, and contraception. It would also increase Medicare enrollees’ spending on prescription drugs.

By proposing to repeal the ACA, Ryan would allow insurance companies to drop enrollees or refuse to renew their health insurance policies when they get sick. He would also allow insurers to return to their practice of capping how much care they will cover annually and over a lifetime.