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April 2006Serious threat to women's rights & access to health careA health care bill moving quickly through the Senate will have dire consequences on women's health if it gets passed. The bill, the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (HIMMA, S 1955), allegedly makes health insurance coverage less costly for small businesses and available to more people. What it will do is eliminate state patient protections that safeguard women's health care needs and prevent discrimination against women by insurance companies. HIMMA is a serious threat to women's rights, and AFSCME is actively fighting against it. Currently, all 50 states have protections that require insurance companies to cover various benefits for patients. Many of these mandates provide protection for women. They were enacted because of the failure of insurance companies to adequately cover consumers' healthcare needs and to stop discrimination against consumers. HIMMA overrides these hard-fought protections that women now have. Under this bill, women will no longer be guaranteed that their insurance will cover basic services such as:
In addition, insurance companies will no longer be prohibited from charging exorbitant premiums to targeted groups deemed expensive to cover. According to the National Women's Law Center, this means that older and sicker consumers and women of child-bearing age would see their premiums increase significantly under HIMMA. Although HIMMA is framed as benefiting small businesses, it would in fact drive up the cost of health care for small businesses and many other consumers. Powerful business groups, such as the National Federation of Independent Business and the National Association of Realtors, are pushing hard for the Senate to pass HIMMA. Already, they helped force a similar bill through the House of Representatives, the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2005 (HR 52). This means that if HIMMA is passed by the Senate, it is one step away from becoming law. Take Action: You can help prevent this disastrous bill! HIMMA is expected to go before the Senate for a vote within the next few weeks. Around the country, AFSCME affiliates and activists are contacting their Senators to oppose this bill. Your Senators also need to hear from you and other women about the impact this bill will have on women's health care needs. Contact your Senators today! To identify your Senators, go to AFSCME's Legislative Action page. Stay tuned for further updates on HIMMA and other actions you can take to fight this terrible bill. Unions key to balancing work/life responsibilitiesA new study by the University of California Hastings College of the Law finds that one of the biggest work-related concerns among workers is not having enough time for family and personal life. Single parent and two-parent families work longer hours than their counterparts in any other industrialized country! Not only do working parents have less time to spend with their families, but they often face inflexible schedules that conflict with their work/life responsibilities. Unions are the best advocates for improving work-life policies in the workplace. Unions can bargain for contracts that include flexible leave/work policies that allow parents to effectively balance work and family responsibilities. Find Out More: For information on how you can secure better work life policies in your workplace, check out check out these AFSCME publications, The AFSCME Guide To Winning Work/Family Programs and The Family and Medical Leave Act: AFSCME's Comprehensive Guide for You, Your Family and Your Union, which are available on the AFSCME women's webpage. AFSCME also recently partnered with several unions, the AFL-CIO, and the Labor Project for Working Families to produce two new publications: A Job and A Life: Organizing and Bargaining for Work Family Issues, and its companion, Making It Work Better: A Work Family Educational Program, which are available on the Labor Project for Working Families website. Help raise the minimum wageAmericans need a raise! The current minimum wage is $5.15 an hour, which hasn't changed since 1996. A person working full-time, year round at this wage only makes about $10,700. That's $5,000 below the poverty line for a family of three. You can help raise the minimum wage by becoming a citizen co-sponsor of the Fair Minimum Wage Act. Sponsored by Senator Kennedy, this bill would raise the minimum wage to $7.25 over a period of two years. Raising the minimum wage would have a significant impact on the lives of working women -- approximately 61% of minimum wage earners are women. Nearly 1.4 million working mothers would get a raise if the minimum wage was increased. Take Action: Become a citizen co-sponsor and sign the online petition now! Vote, run, lead!The White House Project is continuing its mission to increase the number of progressive women in the political pipeline. GO RUN is a weekend long training dedicating to equipping future women candidates with the skills to run for political office and win! The 2006 training dates are fast approaching: Chaska, Minnesota, May 19 - 21, 2006; Boulder, Colorado, June 9th - 11th; Atlanta, Georgia July 28th - 30th; Bainbridge Island, WA, Aug 18th -20th. Find Out More: Visit The White House Project online. New resources to help you get the pay you deserve!A new resource guide from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) aims to help women negotiate wages and recognize wage discrimination in their jobs. The guide, Know What to Ask and Know Your Rights: A Pay Equity Guide on How to Help Yourself in the Workplace is aimed at young women entering the job market. Clinton said, "I hope this guide is a tool that helps to empower women, looking for jobs or holding jobs and perhaps unaware of their rights and the resources available." Find Out More: Get a free copy of the guide. Visit the Wage Project website to calculate your wage gap. WomENews is produced by the Women's Rights Department and written by Amy Vance.
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Mary Goulding
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