Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Connecticut voters approved early voting. Here’s how their new secretary of state wants to make it happen.

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 13
      • Women lawmakers in Minnesota are in the vanguard of the democracy movement

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 3
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Election 2024
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Military
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th Represents Summit

Don’t miss our biggest event of 2023!

Register Today

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

A view of the exterior of the U.S. Capitol dome from the street.
Clouds pass over the Capitol Dome the House is scheduled to begin voting on the Senate's Covid-19 relief bill later this week. (Photo by Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)

Health

What else is in the COVID relief package? The first major ACA expansion.

Defenders argue new additions to the health law, which expanded health care access for key groups, could once again benefit women and LGBTQ+ people.

Shefali Luthra

Health Reporter

Shefali Luthra portrait

Published

2021-03-09 08:00
8:00
March 9, 2021
am

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Tucked in the Senate-approved COVID relief bill waiting for President Joe Biden’s signature is the first major expansion of the Affordable Care Act — the health care reform that dramatically expanded insurance access and protections for women and LGBTQ+ people, but still left about 10 percent of the country without insurance.

ACA changes include bigger subsidies for people buying individual insurance by capping spending on marketplace plans at 8.5 percent of a person’s income. The bill would also allow people with higher incomes — 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $70,000 for a family of two — to qualify for insurance-purchasing subsidies. 

Additionally, the relief package would offer financial incentives for holdout states to opt into the ACA’s optional expansion of eligibility for Medicaid — which insures low-income people and is jointly run by state and federal governments — by temporarily increasing how much of the program’s costs Washington covers. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

The relief package does not include a public option, the government-provided optional health insurance that Biden campaigned on, and does not address the price of prescription drugs, which women are more likely to report skipping because of the price. And economists note that, when it comes to controlling health care prices and spending, subsidizing private insurance is less efficient than providing more people coverage through a public plan, which the government could use to negotiate lower prices.

The ACA expansions have drawn criticism from Republicans, none of whom voted for the relief bill, and who argued that it included Democratic priorities not directly related to the pandemic. 

But the changes could significantly boost women’s health care access, making existing options more affordable and increasing rates of people with insurance, according to a new report from Protect Our Care, a pro-ACA advocacy group.

The report, shared exclusively with The 19th, points to the heavy job losses women have suffered in the pandemic. Even as the economy claws back, unemployment among Black women is climbing up, per the latest jobs report, and unemployment among Latinas remains high.

“Women — particularly women of color — were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. It stands to reason they could benefit more from these enhanced subsidies,” said Anne Shoup, the communications director for Protect Our Care. 

Women were already less likely to lack coverage than men (Medicaid covers most pregnancies in the United States). Still, the ACA significantly reduced the uninsured rate for low-income women, which went from 34 percent in 2010  — when the health law passed — to 18 percent by 2016, the report notes. 

Women are also slightly more likely to shop on the individual marketplace for private coverage, said Cynthia Cox, a vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation: 55 percent of marketplace shoppers are women and 45 percent are men. The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the majority of enhanced marketplace subsidies will benefit people who already shop for individual plans.

“That suggests this will disproportionately benefit women,” Cox said.

If more states do adopt the Medicaid expansion — which 12 states have still declined, including Texas and Florida — women and particularly pregnant people could stand to benefit. Medicaid is the single-largest payer for births, and research suggests that expanding eligibility could improve pregnancy outcomes, including combating pregnancy-related mortality.

In 2019, there were 19 states in which more than 11 percent of women lacked insurance — higher the national average. Out of those 19 states, 11 had not expanded Medicaid eligibility. 

But it’s unclear whether and to what extent the COVID relief bill will push states to adopt Medicaid expansion. In Wyoming, lawmakers are weighing an expansion bill. But other big holdouts aren’t likely to change course, Cox suggested.

“It’s really hard to say whether this increased match is going to really convince any states to expand Medicaid who weren’t already going to do so anyway,” Cox said.

The Protect Our Care report does not examine how the ACA expansion would affect LGBTQ+ people. But other research suggests that they are also more likely to have lost jobs in the pandemic, and are disproportionately covered by Medicaid in states that expand eligibility.  

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

The 19th Represents Summit

Don’t miss our biggest event of 2023!

Register Today

Become a member

Up Next

People wait in line for food assistance cards on July 07, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Business & Economy

A year in, the pandemic continues to disproportionately harm women and LGBTQ+ people

Data analyzed for The 19th by Ipsos Public Affairs showed stark economic and mental health disparities. 

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram