Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Kasich vs. Women (Again!)


It will come as no surprise that Gov. John Kasich of Ohio doesn't care that much about the women of this state. Kasich and his party have worked hard to take away women's reproductive rights, restricted the amount of women in leadership roles within his administration, and refused to address income equality.  We can't forget Kasich's disdain for the teaching profession which is dominated by women.  Now Kasich's aim is to do even more harm to women.

DailyKos:

After spending much of his 2014 re-election campaign running tv ads showing his support of breast cancer screening for uninsured women, Gov. John Kasich has completely eliminated Ohio's Breast & Cervical Cancer Treatment Program (BCCP Medicaid) from his FY 2016-2017 budget.  The program provides emergency, temporary Medicaid coverage to uninsured women earning up to 200% of FPL who were diagnosed through the state's free screening program. His proposal doesn't just leave it out of the budget, it eliminates the program completely. Forever.

It seems that, while Kasich plans to fund free mammograms and pap tests for uninsured women up to 200% FPL, if they're diagnosed and not eligible for the Medicaid Expansion (which only covers those earning up to 139% FPL) they'll have to buy private health insurance.  In short, he only cares if you get diagnosed, he doesn't care if you need treatment. And if you're lucky enough to earn so little to qualify for the Medicaid Expansion, he's going to charge you a monthly premium to get it....

It is no wonder that Kasich and the Republican Party have found it difficult to win the votes of women. Mitch McConnell's tactics that are holding up the confirmation of the first African-American woman as Attorney General do not help the Republicans (see DailyNews).

The Republican war on women continues. When we women hold the majority, we'll treat the male-dominated Republicans with the same respect they gave us.