After taking effect in 2010, the law eventually provided health care coverage to around20 million Americans.
Thats not to say the Affordable Care Act is perfect.
And for many people, health care under the Affordable Care Act was actuallycompletely unaffordable.
Alice Little (bottom center) with other women in Hookers for Health Care. Courtesy of Alice Little
The same cannot be said for the GOPs proposed replacements, which are woefully inadequate.
The House’sAmerican Health Care Actwould cause23 million Americansto lose insurance by 2026, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.
SELF: To get us started, how did you get involved in sex work?
Little:Sex work is something Ive always been interested in.
The women seemed very sexually free.
SELF: How has your job empowered you since then?
Working here means truly having a small business.
SELF: Switching gears a bit, have you always been interested in politics and health care policy?
Im totally a bleeding heart animal person.
But I started getting interested in politics back whenObamawas first elected.
I started following along with news stations and making my own opinions.
This year, health care issues especially brought all that to a head.
I thought,If I want to see change, I have to do something.
Thats how Hookers for Health Care was born.
SELF: Do you remember the exact moment you decided to form this group?
What happens if, a year from now, my coworker cant afford her heart medication?
Is she supposed to just be another statistic and drop dead?
We were all very upset, like,how could this happen?
Everyone jumped on board.
The next thing I knew, ladies from different ranches were involved, our staff members got involved.
We have cashiers, housekeepers, bartenders, drivers.
People are getting really active.
SELF: What is the ultimate goal of your campaign?
Were hoping to encourage him to stand firm.
Our secondary mission is outreach.
We want to make people aware of this and bring a human aspect to our jobs.
Were independent contractors rather than employees, so were responsible for finding our own health care.
Also, a lot of our staff have pre-existing conditionseverything from diabetes to seizures.
They may lose coverage, or it might be completely unaffordable.
This is especially scary for women with children who depend on Medicaid for coverage.
SELF: What about access to reproductive health care?
Is that concerning to Hookers for Health Care as well?
The fact that our government would deign to have a go at limit our rights is ridiculous.
Who gives them a say over my body?
What gives them a right to dictate what women do with their bodies in general?
Like any other woman, we need access to STI screening and abortions if we choose to get them.
We need checkups to confirm that were healthy.
Its really a shame, and were already starting to see it affect our ladies.
Besides these kinds of clinics, where else will our ladies be able to get Pap smears and mammograms?
You cant just walk over to Walmart and obtain those things.
Theres no way of knowing how far-reaching and how damaging these changes could be.
This is something that affects all of us, potentially for the rest of our lives.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
This story was updated after the Better Care Reconciliation Act failed to move to a vote in the Senate.
