Ivanka Silent As Experts Confirm Trumpcare Will Wreck Women’s Healthcare
Since Inauguration Day, the First Daughter (with First Lady responsibilities) has worked to contrast her father’s famous chauvinism by building “a brand of women’s empowerment,” adding an inspirational “Women Who Work” section to her website and tailoring her high-end fashion label to career women (who can afford it). When, in his speech before a Joint Session of Congress, President Trump promised “to invest in women’s health,” it was Ivanka who was given credit.
But now that analysts across the board agreeing that Trump’s replacement of the Affordable Care Act with his “Trumpcare” bill will have devastating effects on women’s health, Ivanka has said nothing.
In addition to taking coverage away from 24 million Americans, the Trump/Ryan plan would gut Medicaid by $880 billion and, for some workers, raise premiums to more than half their annual income.
The overall cost savings from the plan would come exclusively from withholding coverage to seniors most in need and pricing out millennials who have experienced even a brief coverage lapse – and would amount to a meager $33 billion in “savings” a year, or about half of what the United States spends on military research and development every year.
The situation is dire for all but the wealthiest Americans, but for women, the picture becomes far worse. As expected, the bill eliminates next year’s funding for Planned Parenthood, the primary source of healthcare for 2.5 million women, but it doesn’t stop there.
The Daily Beast reported today that the funding freeze extends to other health centers devoted to women’s health. As a result, unintended pregnancies are expected to increase by thousands annually and leave women in more than 100 countries with nowhere to access medical care.
Ivanka, to her credit, has been busy. Her husband’s family is finishing a $400 million deal with a Chinese insurance company that has ties to the ruling Communist Party. Maybe she just doesn’t have time to speak up on behalf of the women she claims to stand for.
Or maybe, as perhaps the only woman benefitting from the Trump administration, she has yet to notice the tremendous hardships her father’s plans would cause for American women.
One thing is certain, though. If you’re looking for a champion for women, you’d best look outside the Trump family.
Watch SNL mock Ivanka’s “feminism” here:
