Last week, during debate in the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Jon Kyl publicly declared "I don't need maternity care" and thus insurers should not be required to include it in the plans they offer because that would drive up costs. You can see the video here:

While Sen. Debbie Stabenow quickly countered with "I think you mom probably did," the exchange does bring up an important issue about maternal care.

Currently, many insurance companies side with Sen. Kyl and do not provide maternity care coverage, or cover the bare minimum of pregnancy-related costs. An Anthem Blue Cross spokesman put it sucinctly saying: "Having a child is a matter of choice. Dealing with an adult onset illness, such as diabetes, heart disease, breast or prostate cancer, is not a matter of choice."

That argument would probably hold more water if insurance companies didn't make regular practice of denying care to individuals with diabetes, heart disease, breast or prostate cancer, but that's a different issue. What's more appalling is that insurance companies have co-opted family planning choices from women by making pregnancy unaffordable.

Currently, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 14 states have a requirement for maternity coverage. Even if women do have coverage, there have been numerous stories of them facing mounting medical bills! The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that the average out-of-pocket cost for a woman on a small-employer high-deductible plan with an uncomplicated vaginal birth is $7,000. And that's on top of what they are already paying in premiums!

This is why we need to pass real health care reform: so that women, not insurance companies, can make their own choices about pregnancy and maternal care. Take a second to sign our petition and tell Congress to pass real insurance reform that will put an end to the insurance industry's stranglehold on our medical choices.