[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6422-6423]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              WOMEN'S HEALTH WEEK AND NATIONAL NURSES WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Women's Health 
Week and National Nurses Week.
  Yes, this week is Women's Health Week--a time to raise awareness 
about manageable steps women can take to improve their health.
  Currently, one in five women is in fair or poor health, and almost 40 
percent report struggling with mental health issues. Women are less 
likely than men to be employed full time, meaning they are less likely 
to be eligible for employer-based health benefits.
  Difficulty finding and maintaining employer-based coverage is 
especially pronounced for older women, who are more likely to develop 
conditions like breast cancer. But thanks to ObamaCare, women's health 
took a monumental step forward.
  Before ObamaCare, insurance companies could discriminate against 
women, denying coverage to women--of course, to all people--due to 
preexisting conditions, such as cancer and even previous pregnancies. 
Today, being a woman or becoming pregnant is no longer a pre-existing 
condition.
  The National Women's Law Center estimates that insurers' practice of 
gender rating cost women about a billion dollars a year before 
ObamaCare. ObamaCare ends gender rating. It requires health plans to 
cover women's preventive services, like contraceptive care and OB/GYN 
visits, without cost sharing.
  Accessible contraceptive coverage is particularly important. Prior to 
ObamaCare, more than half of all women between the ages of 18 and 34 
struggled to afford it.
  In addition, every health insurance plan is now required to offer 
maternity care. Prior to the passage of ObamaCare, the National Women's 
Law Center found that only 12 percent of private plans included 
maternity services.
  And even without those major improvements, health care accessibility 
remains a challenge. Almost one out of three women reports not visiting 
a doctor due to the cost.
  Women are still less likely to be insured than men. And even when 
they have insurance, women face increasingly high deductibles, 
copayments, and other cost sharing requirements, forcing major 
sacrifices just in order to make ends meet.
  A recent study found that over 40 percent of women have unmet medical 
needs due to the cost of medical care. This problem is particularly 
acute in States that have not expanded Medicaid. Currently, 3 million 
uninsured women live in States that have not expanded Medicaid 
coverage.
  So we have come so far in increasing access to affordable and 
adequate health care for women, but we still have a long way to go.
  This week is also National Nurses Week, and I can't pass up the 
chance to recognize the important contributions that nurses make--
improving women's and men's health care every day. After all, we might 
not have ObamaCare if it weren't for the support and advocacy for 
nurses all across the country.
  This year's National Nurses Week 2015 theme is: ``Ethical Practice. 
Quality Care.'' It recognizes the importance of ethics in nursing and 
acknowledges the strong commitment, compassion, and care nurses display 
in the practice of their profession.
  Registered Nurses, or RNs, are the largest segment of the health care 
workforce, with 3.1 million RNs, and that number is growing. RNs meet 
Americans' health care needs on every level. They provide preventive 
care, such as screenings and immunizations; they diagnose, treat, and 
help to manage chronic illnesses; and they help patients make critical 
health decisions every day. But most importantly, nurses take the time 
to care for each patient during a difficult time in their or their 
family's lives.

                              {time}  1215

  We have plenty of evidence that hiring more nurses leads directly to 
improved quality care and patient outcomes.
  We have seen study after study showing this connection, including a 
recent analysis showing that one out of every four unanticipated events 
that leads to death or injury are related to nurse understaffing; yet 
we continue to see nurses understaffed at medical facilities.
  Nurses around the country have identified understaffing as the single 
most important barrier they face in providing quality care to their 
patients. It is also a barrier to quality improvement and efforts to 
reduce preventable readmissions.

[[Page 6423]]

  I have introduced legislation called the Safe Nurse Staffing for 
Patient Safety and Quality Care Act, which would help solve this 
serious problem by establishing a Federal minimum standard in all 
hospitals for direct care registered nurse to patient staffing ratios.
  This problem is not confined to hospitals. Nursing homes are 
currently required to only have a direct care nurse on staff 8 hours a 
day. This simply makes no sense. Patients are in these facilities 24 
hours a day and need access to round-the-clock nursing care. That is 
why I have introduced the Put a Registered Nurse in the Nursing Home 
Act.
  We should be thanking nurses, who are considered the most ethical of 
our healthcare system, and I applaud them.

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