Yay! for the ACA on Its Eighth Anniversary

MADISON, Wis. — March 23 marks the eight-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) being signed into law. The law made landmark advances for women by prohibiting sex discrimination in health care.

As a result of the ACA, more women have access to maternity care, gender is no longer a pre-existing condition and over 62 million women are saving money on birth control.

The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Institute Program Director Analiese Eicher:

“It’s staggering to think that health insurance companies could discriminate against women, just because they were women.

“Thankfully we’ve put a stop to that, and eight years later women in Wisconsin and across the nation are getting the care they deserve.

“In just one year, millions of women and their families saved $1.4 billion on birth control.

“As we celebrate the advances the ACA has made for women, it’s also important to remember what’s at stake as Donald Trump and others seek to undo the progress we’ve made — gutting critical health programs, cutting funding to the bone, and making affordable, dependable family planning harder to access.

“So today it’s ‘Yay!’ for the ACA and ‘No Way!’ to those who would return us to a time when women were discriminated against in health care.”