PRINTER'S NO. 1690
No. 153 Session of 2002
INTRODUCED BY ORIE, LAVALLE, KUKOVICH, COSTA, BOSCOLA, LOGAN,
TARTAGLIONE, BELL, BODACK, O'PAKE AND WAUGH, JANUARY 29, 2002
REFERRED TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE, JANUARY 29, 2002
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
17 women will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in her
18 lifetime; and
19 WHEREAS, Women are three times more likely to develop
20 rheumatoid arthritis and two to three times more likely to
1 suffer from depression; and
2 WHEREAS, Women are less often referred for diagnostic tests
3 and less often treated for heart disease compared to men; and
4 WHEREAS, Women smokers are 20% to 70% more likely to develop
5 lung cancer, and women are ten times more likely than men to
6 contract HIV during unprotected sex; and
7 WHEREAS, Women outnumber men three to one as residents of
8 long-term care facilities; and
9 WHEREAS, Women are much more likely to provide health care to
10 family members and make health care decisions, and women spend
11 two of every three health care dollars; and
12 WHEREAS, There is abundant evidence that women are
13 undertreated compared to men and underrepresented in health
14 studies; and
15 WHEREAS, There has been some national attention on women's
16 health care issues and some legislative activity by the Congress
17 of the United States on access issues, but there remains little
18 change in vitally important preventive care and treatment
19 issues; and
20 WHEREAS, In a recent survey of voters, almost 80% of women
21 and 60% of men favored a women's health care platform which
22 supports relevant care, relevant research and relevant education
23 for women; and
24 WHEREAS, Nine out of ten men and women agree that women have
25 the right to access quality health care, including the latest
26 technologies and appropriate diagnostic tests; therefore be it
27 RESOLVED, That the Senate urge every State agency, State-
28 owned or State-related institution of higher education, and
29 recipient of State grants or funding to take appropriate action
30 to achieve improved and equal access for women to quality health
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1 care, including:
2 (1) Provide women equal access to quality health care,
3 including state-of-the-art medical advances and technology.
4 (2) Increase the number of women covered by
5 comprehensive health care insurance, with primary and
6 preventive health care for all women.
7 (3) Prevent serious health problems by timely diagnosis
8 and treatment programs.
9 (4) Promote strategies to increase patient access to
10 recommended diagnostic and screening tests, preventive health
11 regimens and recommended treatments.
12 (5) Encourage unimpeded access to health care providers
13 who specialize in women's health.
14 (6) Create and promote public-private partnerships to
15 establish programs designed to improve the scope and quality
16 of women's health care.
17 (7) Improve communications between health care providers
18 and patients.
19 (8) Continue to expand participation of women in
20 clinical trials.
21 (9) Increase government and private research on women's
22 health issues, the differences between men and women and how
23 these differences impact quality health care.
24 (10) Conduct more outcomes research to demonstrate the
25 short-term and long-term value of women's health care
26 interventions and preventive health measures.
27 (11) Expand medical and nursing school curricula in the
28 area of women's health and educate students of that curricula
29 about gender biology.
30 (12) Support public education campaigns to increase
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1 women's awareness of their unique health risks and how to
2 negotiate the complexities of the health care system and to
3 demand and obtain the best care available.
4 (13) Conduct public health campaigns via State and local
5 departments of public health with private sector partners to
6 focus on key women's preventive health issues.
7 (14) Urge the establishment of a permanent office of
8 women's health within the Department of Health to raise
9 awareness of women's special health care needs and advocate
10 initiatives to address them.
11 (15) Foster development and dissemination of publicly
12 available information on the quality of health care and
13 health outcomes that improve women's ability to choose the
14 best health care plan.
15 (16) Expand State screening programs targeted at lower-
16 income women to include a full range of known risk factors;
17 and be it further
18 RESOLVED, That the organization known as Women In Government
19 is commended for its enterprise in bringing to this Commonwealth
20 leadership in attaining improved and equal access for women to
21 quality health care, technologies and treatments, educating
22 researchers about gender differences and securing unimpeded
23 access to women's health providers.
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