Dems mock House GOP over lack of women in healthcare meeting

At least two congressional Democrats seized on a photo from a House Freedom Caucus meeting on healthcare Thursday, mocking the GOP for the lack of women in the room, after Vice President Pence tweeted a photo from the gathering. 

Appreciated joining @POTUS for meeting with the Freedom Caucus again today. This is it. #PassTheBill pic.twitter.com/XG6lQIy5a6

— Vice President Pence (@VP) March 23, 2017

There are no women in the House Freedom Caucus, though top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway was reportedly in attendance for the meeting including the conservative House group, President Trump and Pence. 

They gathered Thursday looking for a way to pass the GOP’s ObamaCare repeal-and-replace legislation. GOP leadership has proposed doing away with ObamaCare’s “essential health benefits,” which require insurance plans to cover certain basic health services, including maternity care and preventive services such as mammograms.

{mosads}The fact that no female representatives were present rankled some Democrats. 

“This is outrageous: Not a single woman in the room as Mike Pence and House GOP propose removing maternity coverage in #Trumpcare,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) tweeted alongside a photo of the meeting.

This is outrageous: Not a single woman in the room as @Mike_Pence and @HouseGOP propose removing maternity coverage in #Trumpcare. pic.twitter.com/wwY6WsN206

— Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) March 23, 2017

And Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) sarcastically captioned the photo “a rare look inside the GOP’s women’s health caucus.”

A rare look inside the GOP’s women’s health caucus. https://t.co/SgLmvSpeSM

— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) March 23, 2017

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) apologized Thursday after brushing off a reporter’s question about a rule mandating health insurers cover mammograms with a joke.

“I wouldn’t want to lose my mammograms,” he told a Talking Points Memo reporter who asked about eliminating the minimum benefits requirement.

“I deeply regret my comments on a very important topic. Mammograms are essential to women’s health & I never intended to indicate otherwise,” Roberts wrote on Twitter on Thursday.