CBHC Statewide Conference Call: Monday, March 12

Please register to join us for the Campaign for Better Health Care's next Statewide Conference Call: "We See What You Are Doing, and We Are Not Pleased: The Right's Attack on Women's Health" on Monday, March 12, 12 pm CST

The right has launched a series of blistering attacks on women's health care: within the past two weeks alone, we've seen their efforts to reduce access to contraception, to mandate unnecessary transvaginal ultrasound procedures for women seeking abortions, to slash funding for reproductive health clinics, and to demonize and defund organizations that provide women's reproductive health services, like Planned Parenthood. These ideological attacks are not just mere politics as usual from the right; they are a means to their true end game, destroying the Affordable Care Act.

On March 26, the Supreme Court will begin hearings on the constitutionality of the personal responsibility clause of the Affordable Care Act. Personal responsibility for the common good means that because everyone has insurance, no one gets to rig the system, everyone has equal skin in the game, and no one rides for free, including the insurance industry. It means that people can't enter the insurance pool only when they become sick, thereby draining the pool of dollars they haven't paid in previously. Making sure everyone pays equally so they can benefit equally is the only way we can keep a system of social insurance going. The opposition's argument against the personal responsibility clause of the Affordable Care Act is their argument against social insurance: how dare anyone force them to pay their fair share and take away their ability to rip the system off and raise costs for everyone else?

The attack on women's rights is not just about addressing health disparities for women, but gives us the opportunity in Illinois to fix racial disparities, income disparities, and other disparities in our current health care system. In building a competitive health care marketplace (insurance exchange) that addresses the disparities, we begin to take the necessary steps to correct them across the board. Women did not want this fight, but it was brought and we will win it by using this opportunity to build a health care system that provides quality, affordable health care for ALL.

Please join us on Monday, March 12 with our special guests Brigid Leahy, Director of Legislative Affairs at Planned Parenthood of Illinois and a spokesperson from the National Women's Law Center, to talk about the recent attacks on women's health and how they fit into the larger strategy of balancing the inequalities in our current system of health care.

Call Agenda
- CBHC Executive Director Jim Duffett updates us on the status of Illinois' Marketplace (the insurance exchange.)
- CBHC Communications Organizer Kathleen Duffy will give an overview of communications plans for the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act on March 23, and for the Supreme Court hearings March 26-28.
- Our guest speakers will discuss the benefits of the Affordable Care Act for women, connect the dots about how attacks on women's health is really an attack on the Affordable Care Act itself, and describe how our efforts to build equity into Illinois' marketplace are good for women, minorities, and everyone.
- And as always, your questions and comments for all our speakers, taken and answered.

The Statewide Conference Call Series is a free resource for advocates presented by the Campaign for Better Health Care. Please visit this link to register and join us on Monday, March 12. Your questions for our speakers can be submitted ahead of time as well!