--- title: How the GOP Health Care Bill Could Hurt Women description: Find out how the Republican health care plan would hurt women and survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. canonical: https://time.com/4766878/gop-health-care-bill-hurt-women/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-04T19:03:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:01:01.736Z og:title: The GOP’s Health Care Bill Could Make Being a Woman a Pre-Existing Condition og:description: 'Women will disproportionately be affected by this legislation if it moves forward' og:url: https://time.com/4766878/gop-health-care-bill-hurt-women/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d247535f542a3cb/6988cc0f196cf434f003ffb9/paul-ryan-house-gop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5414 og:image:height: 3045 og:image:alt: House GOP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The GOP’s Health Care Bill Could Make Being a Woman a Pre-Existing Condition twitter:description: 'Women will disproportionately be affected by this legislation if it moves forward' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d247535f542a3cb/6988cc0f196cf434f003ffb9/paul-ryan-house-gop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The GOP’s Health Care Bill Could Make Being a Woman a Pre-Existing Condition > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f1a6a53c-13e5-405f-9a24-1e7b4d2a8f11&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: What to Know About the Republican Health Care Bill [Watch (HLS stream): What to Know About the Republican Health Care Bill](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YzXQOoMd.m3u8) (1:44)  _Published 2017-05-04. House Republicans voted on Thursday to repeal Obamacare, making good on a seven-year campaign promise that could reshape health care in the United States and dramatically reduce the number of Americans with health insurance._  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney May 4, 2017 7:03 PM UTC House Republicans voted on Thursday to repeal Obamacare, making good on a seven-year campaign promise that could reshape health care in the United States and dramatically reduce the number of Americans with health insurance.  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney May 4, 2017 7:03 PM UTC The Republicans’ proposed [health care bill](http://time.com/4765833/health-care-ahca-republican-bill/?xid=homepage), which the House [approved](http://time.com/4766333/obamacare-repeal-house-republican-health-care-vote/?xid=homepage) on Thursday, could make it more difficult for women to get low-cost health insurance by allowing states to again define sexual assault, domestic violence and C-sections as “pre-existing conditions.” In 2008, the National Women’s Law Center issued a [report](https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/NWLCReport-NowhereToTurn-81309w.pdf), “Nowhere to Turn: How the Individual Health Insurance Market Fails Women,” which found that women often have higher premiums than men and that very few insurers cover maternity care. The report also found that insurers could refuse to cover survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence by characterizing their past trauma as a “pre-existing condition.” “They could tell sexual assault survivors, ‘Because you require preventative HIV medication and antidepressants, you’re too expensive. We can’t make a profit off of you, we’re not going to cover you,’” [Janel George](https://nwlc.org/staff/janel-george-director-of-federal-reproductive-rights-and-health/), the director of Federal Reproductive Rights and Health at the National Women’s Law Center, told _Motto._ The [Affordable Care Act](http://time.com/money/collection-post/4536101/how-does-obamacare-work/) changed that by banning insurers from discriminating against anyone with a pre-existing condition and mandating that all insurers cover ten [Essential Health Benefits](https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/essential-health-benefits/), including maternity and newborn care, mental health services, and [preventive care](https://www.healthcare.gov/preventive-care-women/), like mammograms. But an amendment buried in the Republicans’ American Health Care Act threatens to strip away those federal protections for women. Though President Donald Trump [promised](http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/30/politics/trump-health-care-pre-existing-conditions/) that the GOP’s proposed health care bill will “guarantee” coverage for pre-existing conditions, that’s not exactly the case. The amendment, inserted into the bill this week, would allow states to opt-out of an ACA provision barring insurers from setting costs based on individuals’ health or [pre-existing conditions](https://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/about-the-aca/pre-existing-conditions/index.html). It would also allow states to opt-out of the ACA’s requirement that all insurers cover the Essential Health Benefits. Depending on a state’s choice to opt out of those requirements, it could soon very well be legal for an insurer to charge women and survivors of domestic abuse higher premiums, or deny them coverage altogether. “We’ll go back to the days when your access of quality coverage depended on where you live,” George said. In the past, some states have passed targeted protections for women and survivors of domestic abuse. In 2010, for example, before the passage of the ACA, all but six states and the District of Columbia had [laws](http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/oct/06/gwen-moore/obamacare-stop-domestic-violence-pre-existing-cond/) barring insurers from treating domestic violence as a pre-existing condition, barring insurers from denying coverage to someone who had sought treatment for such abuse. In 2012, at least 14 states had [laws](//4144956F-116E-42CB-9519-753B42DAEDDC/In%202012,%20at%20least%2014%20states%20In%20the%20past,%20a%20handful%20of%20states%20banned%20insurers%20from%20charging%20women%20more%20than%20men%20for%20health%20care%20coverage.) on the books preventing insurers from charging women more for the same health care coverage. “Women will disproportionately be affected by this legislation if it moves forward,” George said. “This repeal vote is a vote to step back to a time when discrimination against women in the health center was permitted, widespread and it went largely unnoticed. It left women not only paying more but also jeopardized women’s health and economic security.” ## Transcript This is a repeal and we replace of Obama care, make no mistake about it. [ APPLAUSE ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] The ayes are 217, the nays are 213. The bill is passed without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. [ MUSIC ] [ NOISE ] [ MUSIC ] This is a setback, no two ways about it. But it is not the end of the story, because I know that every man and woman in this conference is now motivated more than ever to step up our game, to deliver on our promises. 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