Despite opposition from Democrats, Republicans and a lot of people in general, the GOP-proposed American Health Care Act is making its way through the House Committees. During a 27-hour hearing for the bill, Republican Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois made some, ahem, interesting comments about Obamacare's requirement that healthcare plans cover maternity services.
According to the Huffington Post, when Republican Rep. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma claimed that premiums were "skyrocketing because of mandates from Obamacare," Democrat Rep. Michael Doyle responded by asking which mandates specifically he took issue with.
"What mandate in the Obamacare bill does he take issue with?” Doyle said. “Certainly not with pre-existing conditions, or caps on benefits or letting your child stay on the policy until 26, so I’m curious what is it we’re mandating?”
It was then that Shimkus decided to throw in his opinion, "What about men having to purchase prenatal care?” Shimkus said. “Is that not correct? And should they?”
WOW. The #GOP’s reason to object to insurance covering prenatal care? “Why should men pay for it?” Watch: #Trumpcare#ProtectOurCarepic.twitter.com/Q55nG1Un8j
— NARAL (@NARAL) March 9, 2017
In case you were wondering, yes he was completely serious. Doyle took the opportunity to remind Shimkus that, sorry, but that's basically not how insurance works.
"There’s no such thing as a la carte insurance, John,” he said, later adding, "There’s not a single insurance company in the world that does that. You’re talking about something that doesn’t exist.”
In addition to the fact that insurance requires people to pay for services they'll probably never use (yes, women purchase plans that cover prostate or testicular cancer), we'd also like to remind Shimkus that, in case he's forgotten, it takes sperm (you know, from a man) to make a baby - a woman's body doesn't just spontaneously impregnate itself. But it's not like that's *common knowledge* or anything.
