Women's Preventive Care Amendment Introduced As Senate Health Reform Debate Begins

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In the Senate's first day of floor debate on its health care reform bill on Monday, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) introduced an amendment intended to guarantee insurance coverage of cancer screenings and other preventive care services for women at low or no cost, the New York Times reports.

The amendment is intended to address coverage of mammograms for women, including those younger than age 50. The age at which women should begin breast cancer screening has been a focus of debate since the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's release of new guidelines that recommend against routine mammograms in women younger than age 50. Mikulski said the amendment does not "mandate that you have a mammogram at age 40, but if your doctor says you need one, my amendment says you are going to get one."

The measure also is intended to guarantee screenings for a range of preventive services, from postpartum depression to tests for diabetes and heart disease, the Times reports. Mikulski said the measure would cost the federal government about $1 billion over 10 years.

Mikulski's amendment was one of the two introduced under an agreement that Democrats and Republicans would each be allowed to offer one amendment on Monday, with votes possibly held on Tuesday afternoon. The other amendment was introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and would remove provisions aimed at slowing the growth of Medicare.

The amendments are just two of many expected changes to the Senate's version of health reform legislation over the next several weeks of debate, the Times reports (Herszenhorn, New York Times, 12/1). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that there is "not an issue more important than finishing this legislation," adding that "the next weekends, plural, we will be working" on the bill. Reid also said, "The next few weeks will tell us a lot about whether senators are more committed to solving problems or creating them" (Norman, CQ HealthBeat, 11/30).

While Democratic leadership hopes to reach an agreement on other amendments soon, Republicans on Monday rejected several early procedural motions offered by Reid that aimed to guide the debate on the bill, CQ Today reports. The rejected motions included agreements that amendments be posted online prior to debate and that no amendment tap into any of the legislation's estimated surpluses that are designated for Social Security and the CLASS Act, which provides care for people with disabilities (Armstrong, CQ Today, 11/30).

According to the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, there is almost unanimous Republican opposition to the bill in the Senate, as well as deep divisions within the Democratic caucus. Democrats will need 60 votes to pass the bill, and some within the party have said they will vote against the legislation if stronger restrictions on abortion coverage are not included, or if the proposed public plan option is not removed. Reid has said he would like to have a final bill by Christmas (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/30).

Senate Bill Includes Workplace Protections for Nursing Women

A little-noticed provision in the Senate health reform bill would require employers to provide women who are breastfeeding with "a reasonable break time" to express breast milk during work hours, the Wall Street Journal's "Health Blog" reports. The provision requires employers to provide nursing women "a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from co-workers and the public." Employers with fewer than 50 workers would be exempted from the requirements if the rules impose "an undue hardship" on the company. According to the "Health Blog," more than 20 states already have laws regarding nursing women in the workplace (Goldstein, "Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 11/30).

USA Today Examines Reid's Role in Debate, Re-Election Concerns

USA Today on Tuesday examined how Reid is working to "hold together all 60 members of his caucus" and "deliver on the president's top domestic priority." Reid is also focusing on keeping his Senate seat in the 2010 election. Reid, who is opposed to abortion rights, has faced criticism from antiabortion-rights groups over his handling of the health reform debate, USA Today reports (Kiely, USA Today, 12/1).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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