Tallahassee, FL – Florida Democratic Party Chair Rod Smith released the following statement on Mitt Romney’s pledge to roll back the clock on women’s health care coverage by repealing the Affordable Care Act.

“A disturbing fact about healthcare is emerging: women pay up to 50% more than men for the very same health coverage.  Even if a woman’s policy does not cover maternity care, she can still be charged more because the insurance company fears it will be on the hook for complications from a pregnancy.   Starting in 2014, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, this so-called ‘gender rating’ will be prohibited. This is a common sense solution to a discriminatory policy that negatively affects millions of American women – unless you’re running to be the Republican Presidential nominee. Mitt Romney and the rest of the Republican field have all pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act and its protections against unfair price gouging based solely on a person’s gender. In Mitt Romney’s America, it’s perfectly OK to charge someone more for the same health care service simply because she is a woman. Millions of American women are fed up with unfair, discriminatory health insurance policies and if Mitt Romney is going to stand on the side of discrimination, then he is only making it more clear that he is wrong for American women.”

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