PRINTER'S NO. 22
No. 13 Session of 2007
INTRODUCED BY FRANKEL, M. O'BRIEN, BEYER, BIANCUCCI, BISHOP,
BLACKWELL, CALTAGIRONE, CAPPELLI, COHEN, CURRY, DePASQUALE,
DERMODY, FREEMAN, GALLOWAY, GEIST, GEORGE, GIBBONS, GOODMAN,
JAMES, LEVDANSKY, MACKERETH, MAHONEY, MANDERINO, MANN,
PALLONE, RAMALEY, READSHAW, SAINATO, SANTONI, SCAVELLO,
M. SMITH, VULAKOVICH, WALKO, WHEATLEY, WOJNAROSKI,
YOUNGBLOOD, JOSEPHS, STURLA, ROEBUCK, GRUCELA AND COSTA,
JANUARY 30, 2007
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES,
JANUARY 30, 2007
A RESOLUTION
1 Urging every State agency, State-owned and State-related
2 institution of higher education and recipient of State grants
3 or funding to take certain appropriate action to achieve
4 improved and equal access for women to quality health care
5 and urging the establishment of a permanent office of women's
6 health within the Department of Health.
7 WHEREAS, State government can increase its support for
8 women's health and can make a significant difference in
9 improving the status of women's health; and
10 WHEREAS, Women are metabolically, hormonally and
11 physiologically different from men and have different patterns
12 of health and disease, and some diseases are more common in
13 women than in men; and
14 WHEREAS, Women are more likely to suffer from chronic
15 diseases as evidenced by the fact that more than one in five
16 women have some form of cardiovascular disease and one in two
1 women will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in her
2 lifetime; and
3 WHEREAS, Women are three times more likely to develop
4 rheumatoid arthritis and two to three times more likely to
5 suffer from depression; and
6 WHEREAS, Women are less often referred for diagnostic tests
7 and less often treated for heart disease compared to men; and
8 WHEREAS, Women smokers are 20% to 70% more likely to develop
9 lung cancer, and women are ten times more likely than men to
10 contract HIV during unprotected sex; and
11 WHEREAS, Women outnumber men three to one as residents of
12 long-term care facilities; and
13 WHEREAS, Women are much more likely to provide health care to
14 family members and make health care decisions, and women spend
15 two of every three health care dollars; and
16 WHEREAS, There is abundant evidence that women are
17 undertreated compared to men and underrepresented in health
18 studies; and
19 WHEREAS, There has been some national attention on women's
20 health care issues and some legislative activity by the Congress
21 of the United States on access issues, but there remains little
22 change in vitally important preventive care and treatment
23 issues; and
24 WHEREAS, In a recent survey of voters, almost 80% of women
25 and 60% of men favored a women's health care platform which
26 supports relevant care, relevant research and relevant education
27 for women; and
28 WHEREAS, Nine out of ten men and women agree that women have
29 the right to access quality health care, including the latest
30 technologies and appropriate diagnostic tests; therefore be it
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1 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge every State
2 agency, State-owned or State-related institution of higher
3 education, and recipient of State grants or funding to take
4 appropriate action to achieve improved and equal access for
5 women to quality health care, including:
6 (1) Provide women equal access to quality health care,
7 including state-of-the-art medical advances and technology.
8 (2) Increase the number of women covered by
9 comprehensive health care insurance, with primary and
10 preventive health care for all women.
11 (3) Prevent serious health problems by timely diagnosis
12 and treatment programs.
13 (4) Promote strategies to increase patient access to
14 recommended diagnostic and screening tests, preventive health
15 regimens and recommended treatments.
16 (5) Encourage unimpeded access to health care providers
17 who specialize in women's health.
18 (6) Create and promote public-private partnerships to
19 establish programs designed to improve the scope and quality
20 of women's health care.
21 (7) Improve communications between health care providers
22 and patients.
23 (8) Continue to expand participation of women in
24 clinical trials.
25 (9) Increase government and private research on women's
26 health issues, the differences between men and women and how
27 these differences impact quality health care.
28 (10) Conduct more outcomes research to demonstrate the
29 short-term and long-term value of women's health care
30 interventions and preventive health measures.
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1 (11) Expand medical and nursing school curricula in the
2 area of women's health and educate students of that curricula
3 about gender biology.
4 (12) Support public education campaigns to increase
5 women's awareness of their unique health risks and how to
6 negotiate the complexities of the health care system and to
7 demand and obtain the best care available.
8 (13) Conduct public health campaigns via State and local
9 departments of public health with private sector partners to
10 focus on key women's preventive health issues.
11 (14) Urge the establishment of a permanent office of
12 women's health within the Department of Health to raise
13 awareness of women's special health care needs and advocate
14 initiatives to address them.
15 (15) Foster development and dissemination of publicly
16 available information on the quality of health care and
17 health outcomes that improve women's ability to choose the
18 best health care plan.
19 (16) Expand State screening programs targeted at lower-
20 income women to include a full range of known risk factors;
21 and be it further
22 RESOLVED, That the organization known as Women In Government
23 is commended for its enterprise in bringing to this Commonwealth
24 leadership in attaining improved and equal access for women to
25 quality health care, technologies and treatments, educating
26 researchers about gender differences and securing unimpeded
27 access to women's health providers.
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