Soccer moms … Security moms … Health care moms?
If Democrats in Congress have their way, health care moms may be the buzz word of the 2010 midterm elections. As Democrats scramble to find a way to rationalize poll numbers that show Americans soundly rejecting the idea of government-run health care but split on reform in general, making reform a women’s issue could prove the solution to voting for an unpopular bill and retaining a Democrat majority in Congress in next year’s elections.
Nearly ninety-years after passage of the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteed women the right to vote, women have become a powerful voting bloc in American politics. President Obama’s landslide election in 2008 was in no small part due to his ability to carry 56-percent of the female vote (according to exit polls) in contrast to Republican John McCain’s 43-percent support from women voters. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are said to owe their elections to soccer moms and security moms, respectively. So, could Democrats use health care moms to secure reform in 2009 and win re-election in 2010?
Yesterday, the women of the Democrat Party took to the floor of the United States Senate to make the case that a vote against health care reform is a vote against women. They related stories of women being unfairly treated by a health care system that seemingly discriminates against women’s health issues and called upon members of both parties to support American women by voting “yes” on health care reform. (Read the New York Times story “Democratic Women in Senate Speak on Behalf of Health Legislation“.)
Discriminatory practices in our health care system disproportionately affect women. And in all but 12 states, insurance companies are allowed to charge women more than they charge men for coverage. The great irony here is that mothers, the people who care for us when we’re sick, are penalized under our current system. (Democrat Senator Kay Hagan.)
In a now infamous exchange during the Senate Finance Committee debate on Max Baucus‘ America’s Healthy Future Act, Republican Jon Kyl incurred the wrath of Democrat Debbie Stabenow over whether including maternity care in health care reform would drive up the costs of insurance for men.
“I don’t need maternity care,” Mr. Kyl said. “And so requiring that to be in my insurance policy is something that I don’t need and will make the policy more expensive.”
Ms. Stabenow interjected: “I think your mom probably did.”
Three of the most significant votes in the Senate - moderate Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Democrat Blanche Lincoln, belong to women with Snowe and Lincoln reportedly undecided on how they will vote in next week’s Finance Committee showdown over health care reform.
Tying health care reform to women - and perhaps more importantly to their ability to care for their children, could be a winning strategy as Democrats try to unite their own party on health care reform and force the hands of Republican women who don’t want to look disconnected from the constituencies at a time when the nation is split on health care reform.
Tags: America's Healthy Future Act of 2009, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Blanche Lincoln, Debbie Stabenow, George W. Bush, health care moms, John McCain, Jon Kyl, Kay Hagan, Max Baucus, Nineteenth Amendment, Olympia Snowe, Senate Finance Committee, Susan Collins
