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Congresswoman Diana DeGette: ACA repeal a direct hit on women

Posted at 9:05 PM, Mar 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-23 23:05:32-04

DENVER -- In Colorado, according to Planned Parenthood, more than 22,000 women use their Medicaid coverage to get the clinic’s services that include cancer screening, family planning and birth control.

If the proposed GOP sponsored ACA repeal passes, all of those services would be cut.

Congresswoman Diana DeGette, D-CO, said women are disproportionately affected and at the most risk with the new healthcare bill. She added it could take away access to prenatal, maternity, birth control and more services for women not just through Planned Parenthood but through their normal health insurance.

The ACA repeal would also end Medicaid expansion by 2020 and as already mentioned, defund Planned Parenthood.

For many women, these services go hand in hand.

Adrienne Mansanares is the chief experience officer with Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. She explained to Denver7 reporter Jackie Crea what this could look like.

“For a woman who is on Medicaid, who has to choose between putting gas in her car to go to work or using a form of birth control that she chooses, she will have to make some difficult decisions without being covered by Medicaid.”

DeGette is a firm supporter of federal funding towards Planned Parenthood, as a prime example of family planning as good public policy.

Data shows that for every $1 spent by the federal government on family planning like birth control, the state of Colorado saves $7.

With Medicaid at risk, another rollback that’s part of the new proposed bill would only give new mothers 60 days to find a job, or they risk losing coverage for their newborns.

“You have a baby, two months later you have to leave that baby. The baby may need healthcare. The mother may not be ready to go back. It just seems very draconian, and it seems like a direct hit on women,” said DeGette.

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