Mikulski, Snowe, Collins, Vitter bring victory for women's health in Senate bill; ensure preventive care

Straight from Kaiser Health News today (bolding mine, to highlight crucial points):

"Senate Bill Moves Forward, Amendment Ensures Coverage For Women's Preventive Care"

Los Angeles Times: "After days of delay, Senate Democrats pushed ahead Thursday with their drive to pass a healthcare bill by Christmas, approving the first amendment to their giant bill: a measure to expand women's access to preventive services such as mammograms." The language, proposed by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), passed by a 61-39 vote. It would "authorize the federal government to require insurers to cover women's preventive care and screenings without co-payments. The amendment is expected to cost about $940 million over 10 years. It had the backing of numerous groups representing patients, doctors and women"  (Levey, 12/4).

The New York Times noted that three Republicans joined "56 Democrats and the two independents in favor. The Republican senators voting in favor were the two women from Maine, Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, and David Vitter of Louisiana. Among Democratic senators, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Ben Nelson of Nebraska opposed the proposal. (Herszenhorn and Pear, 12/3).

McClatchy:  The Senate-approved measure "would make it easier for women to get medical screenings aimed at detecting a variety of diseases, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes."  The debate surrounding this amendment "was an oasis of comity in the four-day-old health care debate" (Lightman, 12/3). 

CNN: "The proposal to ensure access to mammograms was prompted by the recent uproar over a controversial government task force recommendation that some women should not receive routine mammograms to detect breast cancer. Democrats wanted to assure women that health care reform wouldn't lead to a rationing of such care; Republicans wanted to make the point that it would" (Barrett, 12/3).

Kaiser Health News: "in essence, the amendment says 'disregard the current findings of this preventative services task force' .... And that women must have access to these services and they wouldn't have to pay out of pocket for them" (Carey, 12/3).

Reuters: "On a 59-41 vote, the Senate rejected a related Republican amendment on screenings that would have ensured the task force recommendations could be ignored. Democrats said it was 'too tepid' and would not remove cost barriers to the services" (Whitesides, 12/3). 

The Associated Press/CBS News: "Mikulski said her amendment would guarantee that decisions are left to women and their doctors, not placed in the hands of government bureaucrats or medical statisticians. She accepted a modification to her amendment by Vitter that would specifically prevent the controversial recommendations on mammograms from restricting coverage of the test" (12/3).

The Baltimore Sun: "Mikulski said afterward that she would press to have her amendment included in a final health care compromise, which would be crafted some time early next year if the Senate approves the sweeping legislation it took up this week. The House version does not include a similar provision" (West, 12/4).

This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.

Comments

[Jeff Cherry]

Julie,
You did a short video story on me from the Tea Party in Houston from last April. I'd love to talk with you about some signficant developments that have taken place regarding my campaign and the Republicans of which I am no longer. Please contact me at your convenience so that we can talk.
Sincerely,
Jeff Cherry
jeff@cherryforcongress.com