JWI Statement on Health Reform for Women:

Ban Unfair “Pre-existing Condition” Practices

Insurers offer women health care policies that exclude coverage related to certain "pre-existing" conditions. Only a handful of states guarantee health coverage for women; the remaining 45 states[i] allow insurers to use prior health insurance claims, health conditions and health history to deny, underinsure, or rescind health coverage. Unfair insurance practices take a toll on women's health.

Coverage is routinely rejected for future Cesarean sections if a woman has previously had a C-section.[ii]

A recent Congressional investigation into insurance practices for individuals diagnosed with cancer found nearly 20,000 rescissions from three large insurers over five years, saving them $300 million in medical claims – $300 million that instead had to come out of the pockets of people who thought they were insured.[iii]

Victims of domestic violence are routinely denied health coverage in Washington, DC and the following eight states: Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming.[iv]

• Health Reform must ban insurance practices that charge higher premiums based on health status and health history, and/or use pre-existing conditions to exclude coverage, rescind existing insurance or reject coverage outright.
  
• Health Reform must provide women with a guarantee of available coverage.