Welcome to the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This week, President Obama remained focused on Libya, receiving secure communications from his national security team as the first family visited Latin America. The President made stops in Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador to promote American exports and economic cooperation among the neighbors in our hemisphere.

This week, we’re celebrating the one year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, a historic advancement for the health care of women and their families.  Without this historic piece of legislation, insurance companies could continue to deny coverage to women due to pre-existing conditions, such as cancer and pregnancy.  Women could continue to be charged more than men for insurance, simply because of their gender.  And, too many women and families could continue to go without the affordable, quality care they deserved.  Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, that’s all changing.

Under the law, insurance companies are already banned from denying coverage to children because of a pre-existing condition.  In 2014, it will be illegal for insurance companies to discriminate against anyone with a pre-existing condition. 

As a single mom of a twenty-five year old daughter, I understand the uncertainty that many families face as their children try to enter the workforce during these tough economic times.  Before the Affordable Care Act, children could be left uninsured, as soon as they graduated from college, while searching for work.  Under the Act’s new provisions, children can stay on their parents’ heath care plans until they turn twenty-six.  This rule applies in almost all cases, regardless of whether your child is living at home, enrolled in school, or a married college graduate.

Last July, I had the tremendous honor of kicking off the Administration’s observance of the 20^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and to then welcome hundreds to the White House as President Obama commemorated that extraordinary Anniversary. It was a momentous occasion as we listened to the President’s powerful speech and witnessed the signing of his Executive Order to increase the federal government’s employment of individuals with disabilities.  As Americans, we’re imbued with those fantastic American values, embodied in the ADA, of a strong work ethic and working together to find common ground--all of which keeps us moving forward, diligently working to win the future.

Today, those American values are once again on display. With bi-partisan support, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) found common ground and today made available for public viewing final Rules on the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) at http://www.ofr.gov and the rule will be published tomorrow. Significantly, the EEOC considered the interests of both employees with disabilities and employers in carefully crafting regulations that will work for all stakeholders.  Now, millions of Americans with disabilities, including veterans with disabilities, will be able to take one step closer to that level playing field we all seek and have the full opportunity to contribute to one of America’s greatest traditions: hard work.

Last August, in honor of Women’s Equality Day and the 90^th anniversary of the 19^th Amendment, we had a thoughtful conversation with the BlogHer community about how far women have come since gaining the right to vote in 1920.  And given the recent release of the new White House report, “Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being”, we thought it would be an opportune time to revisit the conversation.

On Wednesday, March 30, join White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and Preeta Bansal, General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, for a discussion with Shine about women in the workplace, education and work-life balance.

Submit your questions and thoughts here, and Shine editors will select as many as they can pose in the time we have on Wednesday at 4:45pm ET on whitehouse.gov/live.

So that means….

Now:
Submit your questions for Valerie Jarrett and Preeta Bansal  here.

Wednesday, March 30:
Watch for the answers at 4:45pm ET on whitehouse.gov/live, and add to the conversation on facebook.

When President Obama signed the health reform law, the Affordable Care Act, on March 23, 2010, it was a moment that was decades in the making. Presidents from both parties had attempted to reform our health care system and as President Obama said, he wasn’t the first President to try and pass health reform, but he was determined to be the last.

This year, Vice President Biden has recorded a new video looking at the work to pass reform and how the law is already helping the American people.

Cross-posted from the USAID blog.

On his trip to Latin America, President Obama highlighted the theme of partnership and echoed President Kennedy’s challenge “to build a hemisphere where all people can hope for a sustainable, suitable standard of living, and all can live out their lives in dignity and in freedom.”

One of the modern challenges for Latin American countries like El Salvador is addressing the grip of gangs and criminal organization on local communities, especially on young people.  One of the ways that USAID works to address youth issues in Central America is by partnering with local organizations and governments to invest in crime and drug prevention programs.

To highlight the need to engage youth and harness their potential for positive development, First Lady Michelle Obama visited the site of a USAID project called ¡Supérate! in San Salvador.

Accompanied by USAID Administrator Raj Shah, the first lady helped 30 enthusiastic ¡Supérate! students complete their community service project by painting a mural to decorate the center’s health clinic, which is scheduled to open next month.

Ed. note: This was originally posted on the HealthCare.gov blog.

A year ago today, President Obama signed the landmark Affordable Care Act into law.  In just one year, the law has already given Americans more freedom and control over their health care choices and insurance companies no longer call all the shots. Now, you and your family may be eligible for important new benefits that will ensure you get the care you need at a more reasonable cost.

Here are some of the benefits you’ll get as a result of the new law:

New Coverage Choices

• Most young adults can stay on their parent’s family plan until they turn 26.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re married, living with your parents, in school, or financially independent.  For more information on how to stay insured, call the customer service number for your parent’s insurer and explain your situation. Or visit Facebook.gov/YoungAdultCoverage to learn more.
• Most health plans cannot deny coverage to children under age 19 because of pre-existing conditions like cancer or cerebral palsy.
• If you have been uninsured because of a pre-existing condition, you may be eligible to join the more than 12,000 Americans insured through the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan.  To find out about plans available in your State, visit: www.pcip.gov. 

New Benefits if You Have Insurance

• If you are in a new insurance plan, insurance companies cannot charge you a deductible or copays for recommended preventive services, like mammograms, flu shots and other immunizations.  Click here to find a list of preventive services that will be covered without cost-sharing.
• Insurance companies are prohibited from capping the dollar amount of care you can receive in a lifetime, or cancelling your coverage due to a mistake on your application when you get sick.

New Benefits for People with Medicare

• Seniors and other people with Medicare can get many preventive services and an annual wellness visit with no deductible, coinsurance, or co-payment. More than 150,000 seniors and individuals with disabilities with Medicare have received an annual wellness visit in the first two months of the year.
• Seniors and others who are in the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap known as the donut hole now receive a 50% discount on covered brand name prescription drugs and 7 percent off prices for generic drugs. In 2010, nearly 4 million seniors and individuals with disabilities with Medicare received a one-time $250 rebate check to help with high prescription drugs costs.

This is only the beginning of a transformation of our health care system that puts you in the driver's seat. For more information on how you can get these benefits, visit our Better Benefits, Better Health Initiative.

Richard Sorian is Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.

President Barack Obama talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron about the current situation in Libya during a call from Air Force One on the flight from Santiago, Chile to San Salvador, El Salvador, March 22, 2011. Taking part in the call with the President are National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, left, and Chief of Staff Bill Daley. President Obama also had calls with his National Security Staff, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, and Amir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar during the flight. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

As he has in previous stops during his trip to Latin America, the President was asked today in El Salvador with President Funes about the ongoing situation in Libya.  And once again, having spoken at length about the importance of America's relationship with the host country in the context of his vision for strengthened relationships throughout the hemisphere, the President took the time to give a thorough update on developments and give all due credit to our men an women in uniform.

The first questions on Libya related to the leadership roles within the coalition of partners and the downed aircraft that many Americans were concerned about:

Ed. Note: Last week, we celebrated Sunshine Week here in America. It goes without saying that technology has fundamentally impacted how government works around the world. Samantha Power, Senior Director and Special Assistant for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, highlights similar good government efforts underway in countries around the world.

While “Sunshine Week” may be an American invention, the momentum for greater transparency and accountability in government is a global phenomenon.  In countries around the world, governments and civil society groups are taking new and creative steps to ensure that government delivers for citizens and to strengthen democratic accountability.

President Obama witnessed this extraordinary innovation first-hand during his trip to India in November.  He attended the first-ever “Expo on Democracy and Open Government” and sampled the ways in which technology was being used by Indian citizens and civil society groups to expose corruption. One group showed him the way Indians could use a simple SMS code to obtain background knowledge on political candidates – their financial assets, any criminal backgrounds, etc. He also saw a ground-breaking website, www.ipaidabribe.com, where Indians posted their tales of having been forced to pay a bribe, in refusing to pay a bribe, and in “not having to pay a bribe” –  stories celebrating Indian public servants’ refusal to succumb to corruption.