Cancer Survivor Wasserman Schultz Blasts Chris Christie for Supporting Policies That Would Allow Insurance Companies Not To Cover Mammograms
Democratic National Committee Conference Call
Rep. Wasserman Schultz, Senator Stabenow, VA Delegate Vanderhye Call Out Republicans For Being Out Of Touch On Women’s Issues
Audio Link to the Call: http://www.democrats.org/page/-/audio/calls/ConfCall2pm100709.mp3
Washington This afternoon on a press conference call with reporters, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) called out New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie for supporting mandate free policies that would allow insurance companies to drop coverage for procedures and tests like mammograms, colonoscopies, and more.
On the call, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI), U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), and Virginia Delegate Margaret Vanderhye also called ou t Republicans for their out-of-touch and far right-wing views and highlighted Virginia Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bob McDonnell and US Senator Jon Kyl’s (R-AZ) out of the mainstream views on maternity care, women in the workplace, child care, and more.
Please see below for Rep. Wasserman Schultz’s remarks from the call:
Right now health insurance reform is foremost on the minds of Americans across the country. People want to reform our broken health care system, and they know that we need reform now.
As I talk to my constituents, friends, and neighbors, I hear so many heartbreaking stories about how the system has failed them, how they are struggling to get the care they so desperately need.
That’s particularly true of womenwho are disproportionately affected by the system. As moms and caregivers, wome n are so often responsible for caring for their families and they are the ones primarily in America who make the health care decisions for those families.
And women also face discrimination by health insurance companies– a recent study showed that 25 year-old women are charged up to 45 percent more than 25 year-old men for the same coverage. By the age of 40, a woman is charged 48 percent more. On top of it all, many women that actually do have insurance have plans that don’t cover basic women’s health services like maternity care or basic preventative care like mammograms and pap smears.
And that’s outrageous. But you’ve got Republican leaders and candidates who’ve recently shown that they don’t seem to think that is outrageous. Instead of fighting for women, they are trying to block health care reform. They oppose reforms that would provide better care for women. And just yesterday, the Republican Party showed yet again their total lack of respect for women with their demeaning remarks about Speaker Pelosi needing to be put in her place by General McChrystal. The Republicans, it’s perhaps understandable that they wouldn’t understand the needs of women because at least in the house, their conference is 80% male and 100% white. Women and all Americans need to know what Republicans are advocating for.
For example, Chris Christie, the Republican candidate for Governor in New Jersey, has consistently sought to undermine women’s interests. He opposes paid family leave, 48-hour minimum hospital stays for new mothers, and has ridiculed Governor Corzine’s investments in pre-K as babysitting.
I’ll tell you, as a mom with young kids, making sure my kids are well cared for while I’m at work is absolutely critical and making sure there is high quality care that provides an enriched learning environment for them is absolutely essential. Belittling it as babysitting is incredibly patronizing.
And what’s most outrageous to me is that Christie supports mandate-free policies that would allow insurance companies to drop co verage for mammograms.
For me, as a cancer survivor, I just can’t understand how Chris Christie can hold that position. I can tell you that I am here today, I am a survivor of breast cancer today, because of early detection, because of my ability to get the screenings that I needed, and because of the knowledge and awareness that I was given, and my access to mammography. It’s shocking that Chris Christie would old such a backwards position as he does.
Women really need to know the truth. These are backwards views, they are demeaning and they are out of step with 21st century America.
He should be ashamed. Why a single woman in New Jersey would vote for a man with these views is beyond me. Chris Christie and the Republican Party of 2009’s views were as inappropriate in the 19th and 20th century as they are in the 21st. Maybe we should remind him what century we’re in.
Women have fought for decades for parity in the work place – for fairness in college admissions and for an end to discrimination on matters of health care. We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress and we’re not going the let the likes of Chris Christie turn back the clock.
If Chris Christie becomes governor of New Jersey – he’d take women back to the dark ages of drive thru deliveries, he’d squander the progress we’ve made on breast cancer and if his views prevailed nationally, God forbid, women would lose the right to choose. Chris Christie is not just wrong for women – he is frighteningly wrong.