[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 21061]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            MATERNAL SMOKING

  (Mr. MURPHY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, smoking during pregnancy is associated with 
low birth weight in babies, preterm births, and perinatal deaths.
  Low birth weight babies often suffer complications such as 
underdeveloped lungs and require special care and longer hospital stays 
that can cost up to $2 billion annually in increased health care costs. 
As the children grow up, they are at increased risk for other health 
problems throughout their young lives.
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that if pregnant 
women on Medicaid receive counseling that reduces smoking, millions and 
perhaps billions in excess Medicaid health care costs could be avoided. 
This extends widely as we cover other areas to help reduce smoking.
  Congress needs to continue to provide health care organizations with 
data on the cost effectiveness of cessation services to encourage 
private plans and government-funded plans to cover smoking cessation. 
By reducing maternal smoking during pregnancy, we can save not just one 
but two lives at a time.
  I urge my colleagues to visit my Web site at murphy.house.gov to 
learn about more ways to save lives and to save money by reducing 
health care costs.

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