[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S7810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DODD (for himself and Mr. Brown of Ohio):
  S. 3907. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to increase 
access to health care for individuals with disabilities and increase 
awareness of the need for health care facilities and examination rooms 
to be accessible for individuals with disabilities, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, as a co-chair of the Congressional Spina 
Bifida Caucus, I rise today to introduce the Debbie Blanchard Access to 
Health Care for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2010 with my 
colleague, Senator Sherrod Brown. This legislation provides an 
excellent opportunity to address a critical disparity that exists in 
our Nation's health care system.
  Individuals with disabilities can face a myriad of challenges in 
accessing the health care they need and deserve. Such was the case for 
Debbie Blanchard, a woman who lived with Spina Bifida for nearly 56 
years, and who passed away in August 2008 from cervical cancer. Due to 
the challenges she faced in finding a physician whose office and 
examination tables were accessible for individuals with disabilities, 
Debbie was not able to seek regular well-woman exams, including 
cervical cancer screenings. The barriers Debbie faced in physically 
accessing the regular preventive care she needed unfortunately 
contributed to her cervical cancer going undetected until it was too 
late. The lack of accessible care clearly contributed to her untimely 
death.
  The Spina Bifida community is devastated by Debbie Blanchard's tragic 
passing, and we in the Congressional Spina Bifida Caucus wish to help 
ensure that the challenges and barriers that contributed to her illness 
and death are eliminated. To that end, we have developed the Debbie 
Blanchard Access to Health Care for Individuals with Disabilities Act 
in an effort to help facilitate access to health care by individuals 
with disabilities, including, but not limited to, those with Spina 
Bifida, and help them to identify providers whose offices and 
examination rooms are accessible for individuals with disabilities.
  Before I discuss the details of this bill, I believe it is important 
to recognize the scope of the problem we are dealing with. According to 
the U.S. Census, more than 54 million Americans, about one out of every 
five, live with some level of disability. Approximately 34 million of 
those are classified as having a severe disability. In Connecticut, 
more than 540,000 individuals are living with some level of disability. 
Of those individuals, close to 22,000 have physical disabilities.
  Studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
have found that individuals with disabilities have difficulty in 
accessing routine and specialized health care. Numerous barriers exist 
for these patients, including the inability to find a health care 
provider who understands how to treat individuals with disabilities and 
is willing to have those individuals as patients. According to a survey 
commissioned by the National Organization on Disability, 19 percent of 
persons with disabilities reported they needed medical care within the 
previous year and did not get it. This is a number more than three 
times the percentage for those without disabilities.
  Women with disabilities are particularly vulnerable. A study by the 
Center for Research on Women with Disabilities showed that nearly one-
third of women with disabilities surveyed reported being denied 
services at a physician's office solely because of their disability, 
and 56 percent described their physicians' offices and hospitals as 
ill-prepared to accommodate their specific needs. Research by the 
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research shows that 
women with disabilities are less likely to have Pap smears and 
mammograms and are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage of 
breast cancer. These women are less likely to receive standard 
treatments and more likely to have poor outcomes.
  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, PL 111-l48, includes 
an important component to establish standards for medical diagnostic 
equipment such as examination tables and chairs to improve access to 
health care for individuals with disabilities and I applaud Senator 
Harkin for his leadership on that provision. As such, the legislation I 
propose today seeks to complement existing programs and other pending 
proposals. The Debbie Blanchard Access to Health Care for Individuals 
with Disabilities Act would empower individuals with disabilities with 
the information and tools they need to identify accessible providers. 
It would also increase awareness among health professionals of the need 
to provide an accessible environment. The bill provides for four key 
programs to achieve these goals.
  First, this bill authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Health 
and Human Services to provide formula-based grants to States to create 
on-line directories of health care providers accessible to individuals 
with disabilities. States would not be required to engage in this 
activity, and the grants are strictly voluntary.
  Second, it authorizes HHS to develop a pilot program to increase 
health care provider awareness of the need to provide accessible 
environments, examination rooms, and examination tables for individuals 
with disabilities.
  Third, it authorizes the HHS Office on Disability, with the help of 
national organizations representing individuals with disabilities, to 
develop resources to support individuals with disabilities in their 
efforts to find accessible providers. Such resources include ``tips 
cards'' and questions to ask when calling a provider for the first time 
to make an appointment.
  Finally, the bill authorizes HHS to create a National Advisory 
Committee on Access to Health Care for Individuals with Disabilities to 
ensure intra-agency coordination of efforts to improve access to care 
for individuals with disabilities.
  The Debbie Blanchard Access to Health Care for Individuals with 
Disabilities Act would be a significant step in ensuring health care 
equity for the more than 50 million Americans who live with a 
disability. Debbie Blanchard's tragic passing should serve as a lesson 
on the barriers that exist for individuals with disabilities in 
accessing basic quality health care. We should take action to ensure 
that these barriers are eliminated to prevent Debbie's story from being 
repeated. I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this important legislation.
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