[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 58 (Wednesday, March 29, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 THE DISADVANTAGED MINORITY HEALTH IMPROVEMENT AUTHORIZATION EXTENSION 
                              ACT OF 1995

                                 ______


                           HON. LOUIS STOKES

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 28, 1995
  Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Disadvantaged 
Minority Health Authorization Extension Act of 1995. This important 
legislation would simply reauthorize the programs authorized by the 
enacted Disadvantaged Minority Health Improvement Act of 1990. The 
legislation is as relevant today as it was in 1990--when I originally 
introduced it in the House, and Senator Edward Kennedy, of 
Massachusetts, introduced it in the Senate.
  The measure that I am introducing today includes the reauthorization 
of health professions loans, scholarships, and fellowships for 
disadvantaged students; the Department of Health and Human Service's 
Office of Minority Health; public housing health services; and centers 
of excellence. A simple reauthorization would allow these critical 
programs to continue to provide a basis and a focus for improving the 
health status of all Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, I am sure you know just how critical this legislation is 
to disadvantaged Americans. Certainly, every racial and ethnic minority 
group experience some health disparity. Unfortunately, minorities and 
other disadvantaged Americans continue to suffer disproportionately 
higher rates of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, aids, and 
infant mortality than the general population. The list goes on. What is 
important for each Member of Congress to realize is that, whether the 
focus is on the rate of mortality or morbidity, the disparity in health 
status continues to deteriorate.
  Most importantly, the health and quality of life disparities continue 
while the United States has the most sophisticated medical system in 
the world; and while the United States continues to witness an 
unprecedented explosion in scientific knowledge resulting from 
biomedical research; and while the United States has a phenomenal 
capacity to treat and cure disease. This national health problem 
affects each of us and our communities individually and collectively, 
and thus requires our joint commitment to alleviate.
  Mr. Speaker, it is against this backdrop of continued human pain and 
suffering that I introduce, and I ask my colleagues to lend their 
strong support to ensure the enactment of the Disadvantaged Minority 
Health Authorization Extension Act of 1995.


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