Unless you have lived as a hermit for the last year or so (and that does sound like a good idea round about now) you know Trump has been hell-bent on nixing the last President's Obamacare, which attempted to decrease the amount of people without health coverage in the US.
Obamacare (actually called the Affordable Care Act) was successful in getting 20โ24 million additional people covered during 2016 through making it illegal for insurance companies to turn applicants away or alter price on account of their gender or pre-existing conditions.
Lo and behold, Trumpcare, or American Health Care Act, has managed to get itself passed, despite being postponed once before, due to it's down-right terribleness.
And one of the most shockingly bad things about Trumpcare 2.0 is that it has reinstated the right of insurance companies to deny or increase the cost of someone's healthcare due to 'pre-existing conditions'.
Pre-existing conditions often include illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, or heart disease. Which means vulnerable people with these illnesses are left without insurance.
Not only this (which is pretty effing ghastly in the first place), but some insurance companies have been known (prior to Obamacare) to consider rape and domestic abuse as pre-existing conditions.
The Independent reports that, 'one woman, Jody Neal-Post, says she was turned away after telling a potential insurance that she was a domestic violence victim โ despite otherwise being perfectly healthy.'
In fact, in 1994, half of the top 16 insurance companies 'admitted they considered domestic violence in factor in determining premiums, and whether or not to deny someone coverage.'
Many of the these 'pre-existing conditions' disproportionately pertain to women like postpartum depression, caesarean sections, and prior pregnancies.
Dr. Diane Horvath-Cosper, an Advocacy Fellow at Physicians for Reproductive Health, told ELLE US ,'A majority of people who get pregnant identify as women, so that's gender discrimination, straight up.'
To resist this discriminatory move, women have been using the hashtag #IAmAPreExistingCondition.
There are hundreds and hundreds of these responses on Twitter, attempting to prove how many lives could be affected and the ridiculous notion of pre-existing conditions.
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement:
This is the worst bill for women's health in a generation. This disastrous legislation once again makes being a woman a pre-existing condition; 'defunds' Planned Parenthood; guts maternity coverage; strips 24 million of their health insurance; lets insurance companies charge people with pre-existing conditions exorbitant rates; forces new moms back to work shortly after giving birth; and reduces access to contraception.
Democratic or Republican, someone being turned away in an attempt to gain insurance for their own healthcare because they have been raped is barbaric.
Sort it out Trump.
Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
