Commonwealth Fund: How the Affordable Care Act Has Helped Women Gain Insurance and Improved Their Ability to Get Health Care
Compared with men, women on average have more interaction with the health care system over their lifetimes. Not only do women have relatively greater health care needs during their reproductive years, they also often serve as family caregivers and play a central role in coordinating the health care needs of multiple generations of family members, including children, spouses, and aging parents.1
Accessing health care became increasingly challenging for women in the decade prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as increasing numbers lost insurance coverage. The percentage of adult women under age 65 without insurance climbed from 13 percent in 2001 to 20 percent in 2010 — from 11 million to 19 million women (Exhibit 1). Women who lost their employer coverage had few places to turn. In most states, Medicaid was available only to women who were pregnant, parents with very low incomes, or people with disabilities. In the individual insurance market in most states, women could be charged more for a health plan, or denied coverage altogether, based on a preexisting health condition. . .