Yes, men should pay for pregnancy coverage, and here's why:

[JaneyVee]

Anti-Obamacare conservatives are chuckling over an exchange from the House's grilling of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday morning, in which Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) challenged Sebelius to explain why men should have to pay for maternity coverage in their health insurance plans.

"To the best of your knowledge, has a man ever delivered a baby?" Ellmers asked. Ellmers and her cheering section seem to think this was hilarious, a conclusive, slam-dunk, let-me-hear-a-rimshot punchline. "Ellmers was on her 'A' game," the deep thinkers over at Breitbart decided.

The reality is, of course, that Ellmers' question revealed only her profound ignorance about how health insurance works, and her lack of desire to learn. And that goes for everyone else who thought this was a smart, telling blow.

Let's examine why maternity care is written into all insurance policies under the Affordable Care Act. The reasons fall into three categories. In ascending order of importance, they are:

The rest: http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-pregnancy-20131101,0,5148721.story#axzz2jVUwhB7l

[Warpy]

1. Ellmers is just as big an idiot as Virginia Foxx is

and the good ole boys are using her to tote water for them because she's better looking than Foxx.

When her looks go, so will she.

Until then, I'm afraid she'll just be sent back to office to poison Congress.

[Turbineguy]

2. OK.

If your name is Joseph, and you are married to a Woman who is impregnated by the Immaculate Conception, you get a pass.

But only this one time.

[Brigid]

10. Yeah, that was kind of a one-shot deal.

[Turbineguy]

13. No doubt a

teabagger congressman got a (for him totally believable) letter from a constituent about it.

[Stallion]

3. Obvious Retort: Has Any Man ever Not Been Born to a Woman

nm

[riderinthestorm]

6. +100000 nt

[Whisp]

4. Kathleen Sebelius is Presidential material.

I admire her strength and character very much. Strong like bull, she is.

[Quantess]

5. I think it's backwards and sad that Americans are stuck at this stage.

People in europe who have univeral, single payer health care know that they pay more in taxes, know that the able bodied pay more for the weaker, know that everybody subsidizes pregnant women, and yet, nobody complains about any of that stuff.

They enjoy single payer health care because it is there for you when you need it, period.

[demigoddess]

21. when we lived in France

decades ago, they used to actually encourage people to have more children by giving a monthly stipend based on how many children you had. They also encourage education by paying for a lot of it, instead of offering student loans that keeps citizens in debt for decades. therefore the educated, young couples can plan on having children which provides them with taxpayers and workers.

[seattle15]

7. Although requiring maternaty coverage is a bit irksome...

considering I never plan on having a child.

[Quantess]

12. Yeah, but you will have to put up with other people's kids

possibly being born with birth defects or complications because of lack of prenatal care. As you get older those little whippersnappers will live in your neighborhoods. This is also why we need Head Start. This is also why we need contraception, so that unwanted kids don't even get conceived.
Prevention is cheaper in the long run, and insurance companies already know this.

Think about how much prison costs society. How about making sure every child is wanted, properly cared for, properly educated? The alternative is far more costly.

I don't have any children either, BTW.

[Brigid]

16. You pay taxes for schools too.

Because do you really want to live in a society of semi-literate dolts? Trust me, you don't. See "Idiocracy" for further details.

[hunter]

17. Pay it forward... You have a biological mother, right?

I've never heard of anyone who didn't.

Those stork and cabbage patch stories are myths...



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Stork#Storks_and_childbirth

[phylny]

19. Depending upon your age,

one of those children may be the doctor or nurse who saves your life or the life of a loved one.

[2naSalit]

8. SO

because it only takes a minute to get a woman pregnant men shouldn't have to make a contribution for women's healthcare needs... right. How is it that Viagra has always been covered just so men can have some form of entertainment when they would otherwise been excused from the ability to make moar babies?

I guess that in the minds of some, sex for pleasure is only for men and the needs of women are god's way of making them inferior so that men can control them.

[Barack_America]

9. Maternity coverage covers the fetus as much as the mother.

Pretty sure everyone, including men, were fetuses once.

All those prenatal appointments, ultrasounds and bloodwork are to monitor the fetus's growth and development. Labor and delivery charges? Those are for the safe passage of the fetus into this world.

Funny how the fetus-worhsippers consistently forget to care about fetuses, once they have to pay for them.

[GoCubsGo]

22. Fetuses don't become fetuses without a man's contribution, either.

Somebody needs to teach these assholes about the birds and the bees. It takes two to tango. If men don't like paying for maternity care, the whole lot of them need to stop impregnating women. Poof! Problem solved.

[roamer65]

11. Women paid for my colon resection.

I can pay for their maternities. That how an insurance pool works. I pay for you, you pay for me. This right wing divide and conquer really steams me.

[Brigid]

14. Quantess was right:

Why are we still stuck at this stage of arguing about who pays for what? Other countries got past this long ago -- if it ever was an issue to begin with.

[Barack_America]

15. Because we are that bitter and petty as a society.

Attacking one another over money, while the corporations steal our wallets without us noticing.

[redqueen]

20. Sadly there were men on DU spewing the same RW BS just days ago. nt

[GoCubsGo]

23. Women also pay for the pregnancy and delivery of mens' offspring.

Do these idiots think that women just spontaneously become pregnant? We also pay for mens' prostate exams, testicular cancer treatments, vasectomies, and Viagra. You don't hear us bitching about it.

This divide-and-conquer shit steams me, too roamer65. Getting mighty sick of it.

[hunter]

18. The core issue is often white "fundamentalist" racism, just as it is with schools, welfare...

...and other publicly funded programs or equal opportunity laws.

They don't want to pay for those "other" people. Not black people, not brown people, not Asian people, not Catholic people, not Jewish people, not gay people, etc..