Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center

Getting the coverage you deserve!                 What to do if you are charged a co-pay, deductible, or co-insurance for preventive services. We’ve been working hard to make sure you and your families know about the preventive coverage provided through Obamacare. We’ve heard from many women about how much this coverage has helped them! But we’ve also heard about some women encountering problems while trying to get these services without cost-sharing. Have you gone to the pharmacy to get your birth control thinking you wouldn’t have a co-pay — only to find out that you did? Or have you gone to the doctor thinking your annual visit would be covered without a co-pay — but it wasn’t? When your insurance company isn’t working for you, we’re here to help. Check out our newest resource: “Getting the Coverage You Deserve: What to Do If You Are Charged a Co-Pay, Deductible, or Co-Insurance for a Preventive Service.” Thanks to Obamacare, health care plans under the reach of the law must cover women’s preventive health services like mammograms, birth control, and breast feeding supplies without imposing deductibles, co-insurance or co-payments. But some insurance companies are still, incorrectly, making us pay for these services. So we’ve created an easy-to-use resource for you to make an appeal to your insurance company when you’re incorrectly told to pay for your preventive care. Check out our resource today and make sure you’re getting the health care you deserve! Want to learn more? Visit www.nwlc.org/preventiveservices. Sincerely, Judy Waxman Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights National Women’s Law Center     P.S. If you have a question about using the toolkit, or you have trouble getting a preventive service covered and you’re unsure why, let us know! We might be able to help. Please contact us at 1-866-PILL4US or via email at pill4us@nwlc.org.

Birth Control and Bosses Don’t Mix : NWLC

Support Birth Control without Co-pays                 Tell HHS you support a workable plan to make birth control coverage without co-pays available to women, regardless of where they work. Something is wrong with this picture: you, your boss, your birth control. The reality is birth control and bosses don’t mix. This isn’t a question, at least for you and me. But there are actually people who think that bosses should be able to make their employees’ personal medical decisions — over 50 bosses have even gone to court over it. The health care law guarantees that women can get birth control covered with no co-pays or deductibles. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a proposed rule whose goal is making sure this is a reality regardless of where a woman works, and the agency is asking people to comment on it. Bosses who oppose this will be speaking out. We need you to speak out even louder in support of birth control without co-pays for women, regardless of where they work. Send in your comments today and tell HHS you support a workable plan to make birth control coverage without co-pays available to women, no matter where they work. When studies show that 99% of sexually active women use contraception, and that Catholic women use contraceptives at nearly the same rate as the general population, it’s shocking that some employers are trying to block access to birth control. Women must have access to no-cost, comprehensive birth control coverage without extra burdens or barriers, as promised in the health care law. So it’s up to us to ensure that the Administration’s plan gives women the ability to get seamless coverage of affordable birth control, no matter who their boss is. Tell HHS that bosses shouldn’t stand in the way of a woman getting seamless access to birth control. Send in your comments today and show your support of a workable plan to make birth control coverage without co-pays available to women, regardless of where they work. We need to stand strong against these efforts to make sure important preventive health services — including birth control — are available and affordable for women who need it. Thanks for fighting for women’s reproductive health. Sincerely, Judy Waxman Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights National Women’s Law Center    P.S. Your support allows us to continue to fight for women’s health, as well as work on many other critical issues. Please consider making a generous donation today.

New Year’s Resolution​s Made Easier: Spread the Word

 

I don’t know about you, but most of my New Year’s resolutions revolve around saving money and living a healthier life… sound familiar? Well, thanks to the health care law, making those resolutions a reality just got easier and cheaper!On New Year’s Day, many more health plans came under the reach of the health care law and will be required to cover certain women’s preventive health services with no co-payments. Spread the word by forwarding this email! Make sure your friends and family know they may have these important services in their health plan! These services include: well-woman visits all forms of FDA-approved birth control breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling screening for gestational diabetes DNA testing for high-risk strains of HPV counseling for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV screening for HIV screening and counseling for domestic partner violence. Over the past few months, I’ve heard so many wonderful stories of women who have received one or more of these important benefits without a co-pay because their plans were already covered by the new law. Now, even more women won’t have to worry about the cost of a co-payment when obtaining preventive health care — a significant step forward for women’s health. Make sure your friends and families know important preventive services may be covered in their health plan with no co-pay! Spread the word by forwarding this email! Want to learn more? Visit www.nwlc.org/nocopay. Thank you for all that you do to protect women’s health!

Support NWLC

Join Me in Supporting the Center Sandra Fluke                 Make a generous donation today — your gift will be doubled. The right path isn’t always the easy path. I was certainly reminded of that this year! When I spoke before members of Congress last spring, I couldn’t have guessed the ugliness that would be thrown at me and other women who stood up for the need to cover contraception and other preventive health services under the new health care law. But we stood together and prevailed — they couldn’t shout us down, no matter how hard they tried. Now we need to stand together again. The National Women’s Law Center played a key role in advocating for women’s preventive health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, just as they’ve been central to so many other advances over the past forty years, from fair pay to economic justice to educational opportunities for women. Please join me in supporting the Center’s work on reproductive health and other issues vital to women and their families. Thanks to a dollar-for-dollar match from the Center’s Board and Leadership 35 Committee, your gift made by December 31 will be doubled (to a total of $150,000). The Center’s lawyers, policy experts, and advocates stood behind me when I needed them, just as they’ve stood behind women and their families for the past forty years. But these first four decades were just the beginning, and the Center needs your help in the struggles ahead. Will you join me? Please donate $10 to support the Center’s work. Your gift will be doubled! You and I both know that our opponents will be back — the fight for women’s reproductive health and economic justice isn’t over, not by a long shot. Can we count on you? Please donate $10 or more to support the Center’s work on so many issues vital to women and their families. Your gift pledged by December 31, including your monthly recurring gift, will go twice as far. Thank you so much for all you’ve done. Sincerely, Sandra Fluke     P.S. Please take advantage of this opportunity to double your gift. Your support will build a firm foundation for the years to come.

Nancy Duff Campbell & Marcia Greenberger, National Women’s Law Center

 

Two simple words, but they convey a world of meaning. Without your work, your time and your support, we would not be celebrating. We’ve been through a lot together this year. Just think about it: since the beginning of 2012, we’ve seen attack after attack on women’s reproductive health, including attempts to roll back insurance coverage for birth control and other preventive health services we won under the new health care law. Our This Is Personal campaign is just one way we’re pushing back — and so far have prevailed! Speaking of the health care law, the House of Representatives voted more than thirty times to gut the Affordable Care Act. Together, we stopped them in their tracks. The Center also helped defend the ACA in the courts, filing a friend of the court brief in the Supreme Court on behalf of sixty organizations. And of course, the Court upheld the law’s main provisions. Meanwhile, members of Congress attempted to hollow out the programs so many women and families count on. They tried to cut taxes yet again for the most fortunate among us. Together we stopped them for now, but our struggles are far from over, and we’re calling on you again to make your voice heard during the budget debates in the year-end “lame duck” session of Congress. And, just this month we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Center, and this summer we cheered the women athletes at the Olympics, which were dubbed the “Title IX Olympics” during what was also Title IX’s 40th anniversary year. So much to celebrate and so much still to do. Thank you for everything you’ve done, and for everything we know you WILL do in the months to come. We’re truly grateful. For now, get some rest and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday with your family and friends! Sincerely,     Nancy Duff Campbell Co-President National Women’s Law Center     Marcia Greenberger Co-President National Women’s Law Center

7 Health Prevention Resources for You and Your Family …USA.gov

Watch this video to learn about prevention.

 

Under the health care law, many insurers are required to cover certain preventive services at no cost to you, including vaccines, mammograms, cancer screenings, and more. Use the resources below to learn more about prevention and spread the word.

• Visit the Prevention & Wellness page on HealthCare.gov.
• Learn about free preventive care for you and your family.
• See a list of covered services for adults, women, and children.
• Find out about Medicare Preventive Services for seniors.
• Get prevention information and tools from HealthFinder.gov.
• Find out where to get your flu shot.
• Visit Vaccines.gov to learn more about immunization.

 

Choices … they are clear: Women have the RIGHT TO safe quality & affordable HEALTH CARE – BarackObama2012

Join Women for Obama: http://OFA.BO/3C7BeJ

President Obama held a grassroots event in Denver, Colorado where he highlighted how health reform has helped women get access to the care they need.

Thanks to Obamacare:

-Over 868,600 women will now have access to free preventive care.  That means things like mammograms, screenings for cervical cancer and pap smears are available to women without any cost-sharing.

-Over 22,100 Colorado women who find themselves in the Medicare doughnut hole coverage gap will have received a discount on their prescription drugs, saving them an average of $577 each.

-On August 1, insurance companies began to cover eight new women’s health services — including contraception, well-woman visits, breastfeeding support, and more.

Spread the Word: The Health Care Law is Working for Women

When the Supreme Court took up the Affordable Care Act last week, opponents asked the Court to overturn the new health care law entirely. But if that were to happen, women would lose vital protections — including coverage of women’s preventive services with no co-pays — that the law now guarantees.

Please help spread the word about what the new health care law is doing for women — share our new video, “I Will NOT Be Denied,” and help people understand what we’ll all lose if the Court strikes the law down.

Because of the new health care law, just in the past year:Over 20 million women with private insurance have received at least one preventive health care service without a co-pay or deductible. Over 39 million women no longer face lifetime limits on coverage, so they can get the health care they need. About 2.5 million young adults gained health coverage because they could stay on their parents’ plans until age 26. And these provisions are just the beginning. Will you please help tell the world what the law is doing for women? Please share our new video and help us tell opponents of affordable care “I Will NOT Be Denied.”™

Thank for all that you do on behalf of women and their families.

Sincerely,

Dania Palanker, Senior Health Policy Advisor

National Women’s Law Center

All Women Need Access to Birth Control without Co-pays

Your Voice is Crucial                     Tell HHS all women deserve access to birth control without a co-pay!                   Forty-seven years ago today, the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Griswold v. Connecticut established a right to use contraceptives without interference from the state. It’s hard to believe that nearly a half century later, politicians are still trying to erect barriers to women’s access to affordable birth control. Tell the Department of Health and Human Services that all women, no matter where they work or go to school, need access to birth control without co-pays or burdensome obstacles. Last summer, we secured a big victory when all FDA-approved contraceptives were added to the list of preventive health services that all new health insurance plans must cover without a co-pay or deductible. Unfortunately, 335,000 houses of worship received an exemption from the requirement, leaving their female employees without access to this critical benefit. Now the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed an “accommodation” for other religiously affiliated organizations, which would shift the responsibility of providing contraceptive coverage without cost sharing to the insurance companies. HHS is asking for comments and we must make sure that any “accommodation” does not put additional hurdles in the path of women seeking contraception. Employees of religiously affiliated organizations must have access to contraception to the same extent as employees of other organizations and companies. It’s critical that your voice be heard — submit your comments to HHS today and say that all women must be able to obtain contraceptive coverage without co-pays in the simplest way possible, no matter where they work or go to school. It’s only by raising our voices together that we can protect women’s health. Thank you for all you do. Sincerely,     Judy Waxman Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights National Women’s Law

The Story of the Affordable Care Act: From an Unmet Promise to the Law of the Land

This video shows the road to health reform and how the president delivered affordable health care for all Americans.

The new law is making health care work better for all of us, even if you already have insurance. It puts the health of your family first—ensuring access to free preventive care and protecting consumers from insurance company abuses.

#ACA is also a jobs jobs jobs creator