A panel of Maryland and federal leaders marked the one-year anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act March 24 by extolling the law’s consumer protections, especially those that concern women and children.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Americans should be prepared for two more years of verbal combat over health care reform when the new Congress is seated in January, but wholesale changes to the law are unlikely before the next election, experts say.

Both of Maryland’s senators have gotten behind a last-ditch effort to revive a public, government-run health insurance option by using a controversial legislative procedure known as reconciliation.

IFAwebnews.com reports that a Democratic senator is seeking to use the “nuclear” option to pass health care reform. This follows on the heels of two U.S. congressmen who also want …  Read →

Women would have free and widespread access to preventive screenings, such as mammograms and pap smears, under an amendment to the Senate health bill approved Dec. 3.

The first of what is surely to be many, many well-intentioned mandates has found its way into the Senate health reform plan, setting the stage for the proposal to go …  Read →

Sen. Barbara Mikulski joined a bipartisan effort to introduce an amendment to the Senate’s proposed health care reform bill, requiring all health plans to cover women’s preventive care, including mammograms and cervical cancer screenings.

Omitting a government-run health insurance program from a Senate reform bill will give private insurers “free rein” to increase premiums and “drive up the cost of federal subsidies,” according to a group of Senate Democrats.

Maryland lawmakers underscored the urgency of equitable health care reform on Capitol Hill Oct. 6, drawing attention to a new report by the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University that highlights the economic burden of discriminatory health care practices.

Women are discriminated against under the current health care system, said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), and therefore have a particularly high stake in reform.