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How being a mom could become a ‘preexisting condition’
Janel George, director of federal reproductive rights and health at the National Women’s Law Center, said that before Obamacare took effect, insurers in most states could label pregnancy, both healthy and complicated, as a “preexisting condition” and increase premiums for mothers or soon-to-be mothers.“We were penalizing women,” George said, “for conditions specific to women.” The Republicans’ plan, which heads now to the Senate, creates an opening for that to happen again, she argued. It’s unclear what states, if any, would opt to return to that status. “This brings us back to the days,” George said, “where a woman’s access to health coverage will depend on where she lives.”