UPDATE: Check out the first page of the letter that Golden Rule sent to Peggy rejecting her application and suggesting she gets sterilized.
After having a c-section, Peggy Robertson received a letter. It was from her insurance company, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, and it basically said this: get sterilized, or you won't receive coverage.
No insurance company should ever be allowed to demand a woman be sterilized.
Today, Peggy shared her story before a Senate committee. Her experience mortified everyone, including Sen. Mikulski, who called it "bone-chiling" and the insurance policy "morally repugnant." Today, she stood up for herself, her family and millions of American women. We need to make sure she's not standing alone.
But Peggy's story didn't end there. A year later, insurance companies refused to cover her healthy two-year-old son - first, because he was prone to fainting and, later, because he was "too small."
Peggy's son Luke is currently covered by a special program in Colorado that extends insurance to the terminally ill, but there is nothing wrong with him! He's yet another victim of insurance industry practices, just like his mom. Tell Congress about Peggy's story, and why it's time to deliver on health insurance reform.
Watch Peggy's story, then send a message to Congress.
As the health care debate moves to the Senate floor, we need to make sure members of Congress know the human price of their delay. We can't let children like Luke continue to go without coverage because they're "too small." And we can't let the insurance industry deny another woman like Peggy coverage because of "pre-existing conditions" like c-sections. Join us in reminding Congress that it's time to deliver on health insurance reform.
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I did send a message to my representatives about this.
However, I would like to note that those of us women who do not have children, and do not want children, are also affected in the healthcare debate. Birth control is often not covered, and neither is *desired* sterilization. Note that these issues also affect women who already have children and do not want any more.
I understand that an insurance company's telling a woman who wants children that she must be sterilized, and refusing to cover a child, are both unethical and upsetting to most people. However, please do not forget to advocate for women's right *not* to have children, which is equally important yet is still challenged politically in the United States.
Oh, and yes, abortion should be covered as well. I realize that not every SEIU member will agree with this, but in my opinion, woman's bodily autonomy is a critical part of progressivism.