[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1734 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1734

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an Office of Men's 
                                Health.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 10, 2003

 Mr. Cunningham (for himself, Mrs. Johnson of Connecticut, Mr. Holden, 
    Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. Fossella, Mr. 
McIntyre, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Rogers of Michigan, Mr. Moran of 
 Virginia, Mr. Issa, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Frelinghuysen, Mr. Isakson, Mr. 
Watt, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Hoeffel, Mr. King of New York, 
Mrs. Musgrave, Mr. LoBiondo, Mr. Weldon of Pennsylvania, Mr. Holt, Mr. 
Owens, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Frost, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. 
    Foley, Mr. McCotter, Mr. Platts, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
  Conyers, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Deal of Georgia, Mr. Ford, Mr. Ney, Mrs. 
     Davis of California, Mr. Saxton, Mr. Rangel, and Mr. Stearns) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an Office of Men's 
                                Health.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Men's Health Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) A silent health crisis is affecting the health and 
        well-being of America's men.
            (2) While this health crisis is of particular concern to 
        men, it is also a concern for women regarding their fathers, 
        husbands, sons, and brothers.
            (3) Men's health is a concern for employers who pay the 
        costs of medical care, and lose productive employees.
            (4) Men's health is a concern to Federal and State 
        governments which absorb the enormous costs of premature death 
        and disability, including the costs of caring for dependents 
        left behind.
            (5) The life expectancy gap between men and women has 
        increased from one year in 1920 to almost six years in 1998.
            (6) Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer 
        in the United States among men, accounting for 36 percent of 
        all cancer cases.
            (7) An estimated 180,000 men will be newly diagnosed with 
        prostate cancer this year alone, and 37,000 will die.
            (8) Prostate cancer rates increase sharply with age, and 
        more than 75 percent of such cases are diagnosed in men age 65 
        and older.
            (9) The incidence of prostate cancer and the resulting 
        mortality rate in African American men is twice that in white 
        men.
            (10) An estimated 7,200 men, ages 15 to 40, will be 
        diagnosed this year with testicular cancer, and 400 of these 
        men will die of this disease in 2001. A common reason for delay 
        in treatment of this disease is a delay in seeking medical 
        attention after discovering a testicular mass.
            (11) Studies show that men are at least 25 percent less 
        likely than women to visit a doctor, and are significantly less 
        likely to have regular physician check-ups and obtain 
        preventive screening tests for serious diseases.
            (12) Appropriate use of tests such as prostate specific 
        antigen (PSA) exams and blood pressure, blood sugar, and 
        cholesterol screens, in conjunction with clinical exams and 
        self-testing, can result in the early detection of many 
        problems and in increased survival rates.
            (13) Educating men, their families, and health care 
        providers about the importance of early detection of male 
        health problems can result in reducing rates of mortality for 
        male-specific diseases, as well as improve the health of 
        America's men and its overall economic well-being.
            (14) Recent scientific studies have shown that regular 
        medical exams, preventive screenings, regular exercise, and 
        healthy eating habits can help save lives.
            (15) Establishing an Office of Men's Health is needed to 
        investigate these findings and take such further actions as may 
        be needed to promote men's health.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF MEN'S HEALTH.

    (a) In General.--Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 300u et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following 
section:

                        ``office of men's health

    ``Sec. 1711. The Secretary shall establish within the Department of 
Health and Human Services an office to be known as the Office of Men's 
Health, which shall be headed by a director appointed by the Secretary. 
The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Office, shall 
coordinate and promote the status of men's health in the United 
States.''.
    (b) Report.--Not later than two years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 
acting through the Director of the Office of Men's Health, shall submit 
to the Congress a report describing the activities of such Office, 
including findings that the Director has made regarding men's health.
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