SCON 6 ISCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Expressing the sense of Congress that national health care reform should ensure that the health care needs of women and of all individuals in the United States are met.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

February 11, 2009CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Ms. STABENOW (for herself, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mrs. MURRAY, and Mr. SANDERS) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and PensionsCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Expressing the sense of Congress that national health care reform should ensure that the health care needs of women and of all individuals in the United States are met.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas women often make health care decisions for themselves and their families;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas women have expressed a desire to have affordable health care on which they can depend throughout their lives and through life transitions, including starting a family, changing jobs, working part-time or full-time, divorce, caring for an elderly or sick family member, having a major disease, and retirement;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas women with good health care coverage worry about maintaining such coverage and keeping their health care providers;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas women are more likely than men to seek essential preventive and routine care, to have a chronic health condition, and to take a prescription drug on a daily basis;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas women pay 68 percent more than men for out-of-pocket medical costs, due in large part to reproductive health care needs;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas approximately 53 percent of underinsured individuals, and 68 percent of uninsured individuals, forgo needed care and approximately 45 percent of underinsured individuals, and 51 percent of uninsured individuals, report difficulty paying medical bills;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas, in 2004, 1 in 6 women with individual health care coverage reported that they postponed, or went without, needed health care because they could not afford such health care;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas high-deductible health insurance plans often are marketed to young women as an inexpensive health care coverage option, but such plans often fail to cover pregnancy-related care, the most expensive health care event most young families face and the leading cause of hospital stays for young women;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas, in 2007, 42 percent of the under-65 population in the United States, approximately 75,000,000 adults, had either no insurance or inadequate insurance, up from 35 percent in 2003;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas nearly 16 percent of people in the United States (approximately 47,000,000 people) are uninsured, including 18 percent of adult women aged 18 to 64 (approximately 17,000,000 women) and 12 percent of children (approximately 9,000,000 children);CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the Institute of Medicine estimated that, in 2000, lack of health care coverage resulted in 18,000 excess deaths in the United States (a number that the Urban Institute estimated grew to 22,000 by 2006) and estimated that acquiring health insurance reduces mortality rates for previously uninsured individuals by 10 to 15 percent;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas women rely on women’s health care providers throughout their lives, for comprehensive primary and preventive care, surgical care, and treatment and management of both acute and long-term health problems;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas a ‘medical home’ should ensure each woman direct access to women’s health care providers and care coordination throughout her lifetime;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas uninsured women with breast cancer are 30 to 50 percent more likely than insured women with breast cancer to die from the disease, and uninsured women are 3 times less likely than insured women to have had a Pap test in the last 3 years, putting uninsured women at a 60 percent greater risk of late-stage cervical cancer;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas 13 percent of all pregnant women are uninsured, making them less likely to seek prenatal care in the first trimester of their pregnancies, less likely to receive the optimal number of prenatal health care visits during their pregnancies, and 31 percent more likely to experience an adverse health outcome after giving birth;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the lack, or inadequate receipt, of prenatal care is associated with pregnancy-related mortality 2 to 3 times higher, and infant mortality 6 times higher, than that of women receiving early prenatal care, and also is associated with an increased risk of low birth weight and preterm birth;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas heart disease is the leading cause of death for both women and men, but women are less likely than men to receive lifestyle counseling, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and cardiac rehabilitation and are more likely to die or have a second heart attack, demonstrating inequalities between women and men in access to health care;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas persisting health care disparities also are evident in that Hispanic and Native American women and children are 3 times as likely, and African-American women are nearly twice as likely, to be uninsured than non-Hispanic white women;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas, in 2005, nearly 80 percent of the female population with HIV/AIDS was African-American or Hispanic, and HIV/AIDS incidence rates are dramatically higher for African-American and Hispanic women and adolescents (60.2 and 15.8 per 100,000, respectively) than for white women and adolescents (3.0 per 100,000);CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas women are less likely than men to receive health insurance through their employers and more likely than men to be insured as a dependent, making them more vulnerable than men to insurance loss in the event of divorce or death of a spouse;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas 64 percent of uninsured women are in families with at least 1 adult working full-time;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas health care costs are increasingly unaffordable for working families and employers, with employer-sponsored health insurance premiums having increased 87 percent between 2000 and 2006;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the approximately 9,100,000 women-owned businesses in the United States employ 27,500,000 individuals, contribute $3,600,000,000,000 to the economy, and face serious obstacles in obtaining affordable health care coverage for their employees;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the lack of affordable health care coverage creates barriers for women who want to change jobs or create their own small businesses;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas health care professionals, a significant portion of which are women, have a stake in achieving reform that allows them to provide the highest quality of care for their patients;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas 56 percent of all health caregivers are women;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas although the United States spends twice as much on health care as the median industrialized nation, among the 30 developed nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the health care system of the United States ranks near the bottom on most measures of health status and ranks 37th in overall health performance among 191 nations; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the Institute of Medicine estimates that the cost of achieving full health insurance coverage in the United States would be less than the loss in economic productivity from existing coverage gaps: Now, therefore, be itCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That Congress--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) commits to passing, not later than 18 months after the adoption of this resolution by Congress, legislation that guarantees health care for women and all individuals and establishes coverage that enables women to attain good health that they can maintain during their reproductive years and throughout their lives and that--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) recognizes the special role that women play as health care consumers, caregivers, and providers;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) guarantees a level of benefits and care, including comprehensive reproductive health care, pregnancy-related care, and infant care, that is necessary to achieve and maintain good health throughout a woman’s lifetime and lessen the burdens caused by poor health;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(C) promotes primary and preventive care, including family planning, contraceptive equity, and care continuity;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(D) provides a choice of public and private health insurance plans and direct access to a choice of health care providers to ensure continuity of coverage and a delivery system that meets the needs of women;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(E) eliminates health disparities in coverage, treatment, and outcomes on the basis of gender, culture, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, health status, and sexual orientation;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(F) shares responsibility for financing among employers, individuals, and the government, while taking into account the needs of small businesses;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(G) ensures that access to health care is affordable;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(H) enhances health care quality and patient safety;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(I) ensures a sufficient supply of qualified providers through expanded medical and public health education and adequate reimbursement;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(J) ensures every woman access to a women’s ‘medical home’, including direct access to women’s health care providers and care coordination, throughout each woman’s lifetime;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(K) recognizes and promotes the role of women as providers of health care; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(L) promotes administrative efficiency, reduces unnecessary paperwork, and is easy for health care consumers and providers to use; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) urges the President to sign such legislation into law.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink