Instructing Certain Committees to Report Legislation Replacing the Job-Killing Health Care Law

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. MOORE. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise as the incoming co-chair of the Congressional Women's Caucus to talk to you a little bit about the impact that repealing this health care law will have on women.

As you all may be aware, women are twice as likely to be dependent upon their spouses for health care, and they are less likely than men to have employer-sponsored insurance. For single female heads of household, this has a devastating impact on the entire family when there is no health insurance. Of course, all of us have heard stories from our districts about the devastating impact the repeal of this law will have on women, and I heard such a story just yesterday:

Meet Nicole Lipski. She is 25 years old, is working part time, and is going to school part time; but, because of the health care law, was able to remain on her dad's insurance. Lucky for her, because just last week she had an infected pancreas and had to have her gallbladder removed in emergency surgery, which cost $13,000 that, fortunately, was covered by her parents' insurance.

You know, this law outlaws gender rating as insurance companies, of course, charge women higher premiums than men for coverage. It also has a disparate impact on women with respect to preexisting conditions--when you consider that being a victim of domestic violence is considered to be a preexisting condition.

Now, you don't have to be a Harvard economist to know that this law is not a job killer, but we do have a Harvard economist to back us up.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. MOORE. David Cutler, a professor of applied economics at Harvard, released a new study on January 7, finding that repealing the health care law would destroy 250,000 to 400,000 jobs annually, and many of these jobs will be women's jobs--CNAs, LPNs, x ray techs, RNs, and the cleaning woman who cleans up the emergency room.

This law is a game changer and a lifesaver for women's health and employment opportunities for women.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source