RNC Women

Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate know their health care bill is driving women voters into the arms of the Republican Party.  That’s why they tried to make preventive care for women their opening gambit as the floor debate on health care began this week in the U.S. Senate. 

Unfortunately for them, the Democrats’ health care plan would STILL give the force of law to the flawed findings of government panels, like recommending against routine mammograms for women under the age of 50. 

The first amendment Harry Reid allowed on the floor this week was brought by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).  Mikulski’s amendment is intended to increase preventive health services for women at little or no cost to the patients by eliminating or reducing co-payments and other cost sharing.  Unfortunately, Mikulski’s own amendment which was designed to defuse criticisms of rationing of mammograms does nothing to address the problem.  As the Associated Press reported, “However the amendment doesn't specifically address mammograms or spell out what additional services would be covered, leaving that to the discretion of the HHS secretary.”

Mikulski’s amendment would continue the policy of the Reid bill and cover “evidence-based items or services that have in effect a rating of ‘A’ or ‘B’ in the current recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force.”  But last month, that same task force gave mammograms for women under 50 a ‘C’ rating.  How embarrassing for Democrats who pretend to support women’s health!

So Mikulski specifies that women’s health issues would be determined instead by the Health Resources and Services Administration. Of course, that changes nothing. It’s still a government panel, and after a government take-over of the health care system planned by the Democrats, it’ll still put itself between you and your doctor and lead to rationing of health care. Thus Mikulski’s amendment, deemed so important by the Democratic leadership that it was the first they rolled out, would in effect make it more difficult for lower income women to find the preventive care services that could save their lives. 

Republicans want common sense health care reform that’s patient-centered, letting women and their doctors decide what treatments are best for them. Instead, like the House passed bill before it, the Senate legislation will use government panels to ration care, a Washington-centered approach that puts bureaucrats in between women and their doctors.  I encourage you to tune in to the Senate floor throughout this debate, and decide for yourself if you want bureaucrats and task forces to be in charge of the care received by you and your family.