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cost and allowing people to request that their insurers send health communications directly to them instead of a parent or spouse to protect the medical privacy of women facing domestic abuse and sexual violence .
“ Women do so much — they have the child care , they are breadwinners , they are leaders , they are caretakers . Anything we can do to make health care affordable and accessible for all women is so important ,” says Senator V . Susan Sosnowski ( D-District 37 , South Kingstown , New Shoreham ), who co-sponsored the insurance rates legislation . “ Twenty-five years ago , in 1997 when I first started , it was a real battle . And it took a lot of courage to stand on the floor and support pro-choice legislation .”
Some of these measures codify existing federal law . For example , in 2019 , the General Assembly passed the Reproductive Health Care Act , which established in state law a woman ’ s right to an abortion granted under the Supreme Court decision , Roe v . Wade . Similarly , the new law prohibiting gender discrimination in insurance rates mirrors a provision in the Affordable Care Act that eliminates gender ratings in the individual market and bans discrimination in health coverage from insurance providers receiving federal funds .
These bills got pushback from opponents who argued that they weren ’ t necessary , but legislators , such as House Majority Whip Katherine Kazarian ( D- District 63 , East Providence ), who cosponsored the insurance rates and health communications bills , persisted .
“ I think it ’ s hard to see what ’ s happening in Washington . My role as a legislator is to protect and help all Rhode Islanders and do my best to ensure they have those rights , regardless of what happens at the federal level ,” she says .
Having insurance is the first — but by no means the only — barrier for women accessing health services in the United States . Prior to the passage of the ACA , pregnancy itself was considered a preexisting condition , and 90 percent of individual health plans did not provide routine maternity benefits . Coverage for reproductive health , including contraception , remains controversial . Still , Rhode Island women are better off than their counterparts elsewhere . According to figures assembled by the National
32 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l MAY 2022