Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visited Philadelphia on Thursday to tout the Affordable Care Act.

The impact of the health reform law was highlighted during a panel discussion held by the Black Women’s Health Alliance.

During the event held at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Sebelius addressed the law’s impact on women and families.

“Women are not only the majority of the citizens in this country, but we’ve been the majority of health care consumers for a long time, and often come on the short end of the stick,” Sebelius said, noting that women face disadvantages in the health insurance marketplace.

Women, particularly African-American women, are disproportionally affected by discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, insurance company denial of coverage, and often are blocked from accessing the insurance market and receiving preventive health care services.

“Women still can pay up to 50 percent more for exactly the same health insurance plan as their male colleagues. Health plans even with that additional 50 percent coverage, often didn’t cover the benefits that women needed. But that is beginning to change. Now that the Affordable Care Act has passed, being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing condition,” said Sebelius.

Due to the act, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

Sebelius announced that the Affordable Care Act provided appropriately 2.3 million Pennsylvania residents with at least one new free preventive service in 2011 through their private health insurance plans. She also noted that an estimated 1.5 million Pennsylvanians with Medicare received at least one preventative benefit in 2011, including the new annual wellness visit since the health reform law was enacted.

In an effort to boost the healthcare workforce, funding has been provided through the act to the National Health Services Corp. Through the National Health Services Corp, Sebelius said that after medical school students finish their studies and agree to practice in underserved areas, the federal government will help pay off their student loans.

Women whose families have been impacted by insurance issues also shared their stories during the panel discussion.

HIV activist Waheedah Shabazz-El spoke on the impact that being denied insurance coverage had on her husband, who had lung cancer and had to have a lung removed.

They went to various health insurers and were told that he would have to live for a year before they would provide coverage.

Shabazz-El, a former U.S. Postal Service worker, ended up marrying her husband earlier than she planned, so that he could be covered under her insurance plan.

“We had a marriage made in healthcare,” said Shabazz-El. “He lived a year and a half after we got married. I really felt like he probably could have lived longer. I’m just happy to know that no one else is going to have to suffer that sort of discrimination from insurance companies if we push forward with this Affordable Care Act.”