Whereas women often make health care decisions for
themselves and their families;
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;
Whereas women with good health care coverage worry about
maintaining such coverage and keeping their health care providers;
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;
Whereas women pay 68 percent more than men for
out-of-pocket medical costs, due in large part to reproductive health care
needs;
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;
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;
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;
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;
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);
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;
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;
Whereas a medical home
should ensure each
woman direct access to women’s health care providers and care coordination
throughout her lifetime;
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;
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;
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;
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;
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;
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);
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;
Whereas 64 percent of uninsured women are in families with
at least 1 adult working full-time;
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;
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;
Whereas the lack of affordable health care coverage
creates barriers for women who want to change jobs or create their own small
businesses;
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;
Whereas 56 percent of all health caregivers are
women;
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;
and
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 it
That Congress—
(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—
(A)recognizes the special role that women play
as health care consumers, caregivers, and providers;
(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;
(C)promotes primary
and preventive care, including family planning, contraceptive equity, and care
continuity;
(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;
(E)eliminates health
disparities in coverage, treatment, and outcomes on the basis of gender,
culture, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, health status, and sexual
orientation;
(F)shares
responsibility for financing among employers, individuals, and the government,
while taking into account the needs of small businesses;
(G)ensures that access
to health care is affordable;
(H)enhances health
care quality and patient safety;
(I)ensures a
sufficient supply of qualified providers through expanded medical and public
health education and adequate reimbursement;
(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;
(K)recognizes and
promotes the role of women as providers of health care; and
(L)promotes
administrative efficiency, reduces unnecessary paperwork, and is easy for
health care consumers and providers to use; and
(2)urges the President
to sign such legislation into law.