This morning, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi held a no-boys-allowed session of Democratic congresswomen on “economic advantages to women in the health care bill.” One of the women not invited, Republican congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, tells National Review Online: “It was probably a pretty short meeting, because those advantages do not exist. In fact, the current health-care bill will hurt women more than men, and is another sign that this administration is not listening to the needs of women.”

McMorris Rodgers explains what she means: “In American families, it is women who make most health-care decisions — whether it’s helping a parent or caring for a child or nudging along a spouse. Women spend two of three health-care dollars. In fact, women are the overwhelming majority of professional health-care providers: Ninety-eight percent of home-care aides, 90 percent of nurses, the majority of first-year medical students, and a third of doctors.”

This is another case of the Democratic leadership in Washington simply not listening. Representative McMorris Rodgers says: “A survey in mid-October of women voters by a nonpartisan research group showed that most women are satisfied with their own health-care insurance (66 percent) and with their current medical providers (74 percent). By two-to-one margins, women said federal administration of health care would increase costs and lower quality. They are right. The federal government is not qualified to replace women as the best judge of medical decisions.”

It’s an age-old question: “What do women want?” When it comes to health care, the answer is clear: We do not want this bill.