French Roast News

Anne is reading …

Nuns on the Bus

Just in! Anne has returned from a most emotional and moving morning with Nuns of the Bus and Sister Simone Campbell, featured in this video. AOC readers know that Sister Simone was specifically mentioned in the Vatican’s condemnation of American nuns. Follow this new AFP read ‘Nuns on the Bus’ Taking America by storm, while Anne prepares her own story.

Anti-Choicers Can’t Stop Lying About the ACA Decision Slate

For one who designates herself “pro-life” (who isn’t?), yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act should be a cause for celebration. After all, actual people with actual lives will see those lives saved, extended, and the quality of them improved. It’s estimated that 45,000 people die a year from lack of insurance, people with families and conscious points of view, who can feel pain and fear. These lives should matter if one wears the moniker “pro-life” to mean that you support life.

Obama’s ‘Women Vote 2012 Summits’

The first summit is July 1 in Denver, Colorado, one of several swing states where women will be decisive in determining the winner of the presidential election. Confirmed now are Pennsylvania, Florida, and Nevada. Anne will be attending in Philadelphia.

Issues include paycheck fairness, health care including birth control, abortion rights, and education.

Women Win Under ACA

Demonstrators in favor of the Affordable Care Act marched in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. (Saul Loeb, AFP / Getty Images)A practice that Anne knows well — “gender rating.” in which insurers can charge women higher premiums than men — without maternity coverage included — will officially end in 2014, thanks to the Supreme Court’s upholding of Obamacare. American women will receive many new benefits as the law takes effect, in this Daily Beast overview:

No Gender Discrimination

Today, women pay $1 billion more than men for identical health plans in the individual market. With no pre-existing conditions of any kind, Anne paid $1000 a month with a $2000 deductible for health insurance on the East Coast, as a self-employed person.

Finding a much better plan under Aetna after her move, Anne’s policy dropped to $327 a month, but with a $5000 deductible. The plan is generous in preventive care and includes dental insurance. Her Aetna policy was reduced after Obamacare became law. Her female design assistant also reports that her policy cost went down.

Other benefits include:

No gender-based “preexisting conditions” like not getting health insurance if a woman has had breast cancer, a Caesarean section, or as a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault. Previously, these conditions often made women uninsurable.

- No co-pay on fundamental health care services like mammograms, Pap smears and well baby services.
- Ability to see OB-GYN without a referral
- Insurers can’t deny coverage to the 17 million children with preexisting conditions.