Last spring when the president and vice president met with members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative male lawmakers, to determine the fate of maternity coverage in health care plans, as photos made abundantly clear, women were not at the table.
The Affordable Care Act created a list of 10 essential health benefits that all health insurance plans must cover. Pregnancy and newborn and maternity care are on the list, contrasted with pre-2010, when only 12 percent of individual market plans covered maternity care, and it was legal for insurance companies to refuse coverage to women who were pregnant or might become pregnant in the future.
