Bill Text: OR HJM19 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced

Oregon House Joint Memorial 19 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Urging United States Department of Health and Human Services to include contraceptive drugs and devices on list of women's preventive health care services.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Failed) 2011-06-30 - In committee upon adjournment. [HJM19 Detail]

Download: Oregon-2011-HJM19-Introduced.html



     76th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2011 Regular Session

NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
 { +  braces and plus signs + } .

 LC 3706

                     House Joint Memorial 19

Sponsored by COMMITTEE ON HEALTH CARE

                             SUMMARY

The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.

  Urges United States Department of Health and Human Services to
include all federal Food and Drug Administration approved
prescription contraceptive drugs and devices to prevent pregnancy
on list of women's preventive health care services.

                         JOINT MEMORIAL
To the President of the United States, the United States
  Department of Health and Human Services and the United States
  Food and Drug Administration:
  We, your memorialists, the Seventy-sixth Legislative Assembly
of the State of Oregon, in legislative session assembled,
respectfully represent as follows:
  Whereas federal law requires new health insurance plans to
cover women's preventive health care services with no co-payments
charged to their members; and
  Whereas at the direction of Congress the United States
Department of Health and Human Services will promulgate rules
this year to establish the specific preventive benefits that will
be covered under this requirement; and
  Whereas this requirement was meant to encourage and invest in
basic health care services in order to improve healthy outcomes
for all Americans; and
  Whereas prescription birth control is basic medical care used
by over 90% of women sometime during their lives; and
  Whereas when women plan their pregnancies, they are more likely
to seek prenatal care, improving their own health and the health
of their children; and
  Whereas publicly funded birth control services and supplies
prevent nearly two million unintended pregnancies each year
nationally; and
  Whereas access to prescription birth control is directly linked
to better long-term health for both women and infants; and
  Whereas since the U.S. lags behind 41 other countries in the
world for maternal mortality rates and behind 29 other countries
in the world for infant mortality rates, Oregon women and
children are at higher risk of preventable death; and
  Whereas in addition to the primary purpose of allowing women to
plan and prepare for pregnancy, prescription birth control has
other health benefits, including reduced risk of endometrial and
ovarian cancers, ectopic pregnancy, iron deficiency anemia

related to heavy menstruation, osteoporosis, ovarian cysts and
pelvic inflammatory disease; and
  Whereas nearly three-fourths of American voters believe that
prescription birth control should be covered by health insurance
plans without any out-of-pocket costs; and
  Whereas for every dollar invested in birth control, $3.74 is
saved in Medicaid expenditures for pregnancy-related care; and
  Whereas research shows that more than one-third of women in
America have struggled with the cost of prescription birth
control at some point in their lives and, as a result, have used
birth control inconsistently; and
  Whereas leading health care providers and medical associations
support improved access to birth control, including the American
Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the
Society for Adolescent Medicine, the American Public Health
Association and the March of Dimes; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
  Oregon:
  We, the members of the Seventy-sixth Legislative Assembly,
strongly urge the United States Department of Health and Human
Services to include all federal Food and Drug Administration
approved prescription contraceptive drugs and devices to prevent
pregnancy on the list of women's preventive health care services
that are exempt from cost-sharing in health insurance plans.
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