Reiterates Support for Letting Bosses Make Health Care Decisions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 07/30/2014
ANCHORAGE — U.S. Senate candidate Mead Treadwell took his attempts to regulate the reproductive health of Alaska women to new levels yesterday. Treadwell revealed his belief that insurance plans should not include coverage for contraception because it is a “brand-new benefit” that hasn’t been around very long, piling on to his already absurd belief that bosses should be allowed to make women’s health care decisions for them.
Many health insurance companies have offered birth control coverage for decades, far from a “new” benefit.
Treadwell on why insurance plans shouldn’t cover contraception or birth control:
“Yes it was a brand-new benefit. Contraception wasn’t around much longer than before I was born except through physical methods…,” Mead Treadwell, Palmer Free Radio, 7/28/2014.
Treadwell’s offensive comment came while reiterating his support for the recent Hobby Lobby Supreme Court ruling, which allows a woman’s boss to deny access to birth control through insurance plans. Treadwell regularly brags on the campaign trail about his support for policies that restrict birth control access, invade women’s privacy, and give the state control over women’s bodies.
“Alaska’s women deserve access to the best and most up-to-date medical care available, it’s appalling for Mead Treadwell to believe birth control hasn’t been ‘around long enough’ to be considered an important medical benefit. Politicians like Mead Treadwell are not doctors and shouldn’t be trying to make health care decisions for Alaska women,” said Susanne Fleek-Green, Campaign Manager for Alaskans for Begich.
Other anti-woman policies supported by Treadwell would:
· Let a woman’s boss cut off their reproductive care: Treadwell is boasting of his support for the Hobby Lobby decision which allows a woman’s boss to make health care decisions for her.
· Invade women’s privacy: Treadwell supports policies that invade the privacy of Alaska women, forcing them to disclose their medical information to the government, and allowing the state to determine whether they can have a potentially life saving procedure.
· Give state control over women’s bodies: Treadwell is adamant about supporting personhood measures which could deem certain forms of birth control murder and outlaw abortion even in the most extreme cases of assault or incest.
Read the excerpt from the Radio Free Palmer interview below:
HOST: But with these women, when you are working for any other corporation that has decided no we don’t want to cover whatever it is- your heart medication or your diabetes medication. Is that the same sort of issue? It’s an access issue for these women that they’re being forced to choose between a job…
TREADWELL: Which is more important, our right to regulate commerce or our right to give away new benefits versus your right for freedom of speech and freedom of conscience?
HOST: But is that a new benefit?
TREADWELL: Yes it was a brand-new benefit. Contraception wasn’t around much longer than before I was born except through physical methods. My point is this…
HOST: But now it’s a healthcare issue, not just… a contraception issue. Birth control is used for millions of women as a medical…
TREADWELL: So what you’re saying is that religious beliefs of the people who are paying the bill should have absolutely no…
HOST: But they’re not the only ones paying the bills. These women are also paying the premiums.
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