Supreme Court Decision Upholding the Affordable Care Act Will Benefit Millions of Women
For Immediate Release: Jan. 30, 2014
Women will have access to birth control without co-pays starting in August, saving up to $600 annually
CINCINNATI (June 28, 2012) — Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio region lauded the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the Affordable Care Act, preserving the greatest advance in women’s health care in a generation. Interim CEO Jerry Lawson said, “As the region’s leading women’s health care provider and advocate, Planned Parenthood stands firmly alongside women, families, and patients across this country whose access to affordable, quality health care is transformed by the Affordable Care Act.”
Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region’s health centers treat over 25,000 women, men, and families every year. More than 90 percent of the services are preventive health care, such as cancer screenings, birth control, and STD testing and treatment.
The decision has also been hailed by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). “This decision will have a profound and concrete impact on millions of people’s lives, said Cecile Richards, PPFA president. “Affordable, quality health care will now be available to millions of women who had no coverage or inadequate coverage before. Today, we are closer than ever to realizing the promise of health care for all. This is a victory for the American people, and we thank President Obama and the members of Congress who passed the Affordable Care Act for their leadership on this issue.”
Lawson elaborated, “At Planned Parenthood, we know how important this law and this decision are for women and families, because we see the need for affordable health care every day. Women who come into Planned Parenthood health centers often struggle to balance paying for birth control and health services with paying for textbooks, groceries, or gas for the car. Because of today’s ruling, women in Southwest Ohio will gain access to birth control without a co-pay starting in August 2012, protecting their health, saving them money approximately $600 annually and giving them control over whether and when to start families."
Nationwide, more than 45 million women have already received coverage for preventive health screenings at no cost since August 2010 – including mammograms and Pap tests. Additionally, 3.1 million young adults have already been able to stay on their parents’ insurance because of the Affordable Care Act. In the next year, millions more will continue to be insured.
Across the United States, 17 million women who are currently uninsured will gain affordable health coverage. In Ohio alone, more than 332,000 women of reproductive age gain coverage under the Affordable Act by 2014.
"While we celebrate the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the important protections in the Affordable Care Act,” said Lawson, “the real credit for this breakthrough for women’s health belongs to those who passed it. We thank President Obama, Senator Sherrod Brown, and Representative Steve Driehaus for their past and present leadership in advancing access to essential health care services."
Source
Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region
Contact
Vice President of External Affairs and Development
Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region
Published
June 28, 2012