Bill Text: HI HCR158 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Encourage Breastfeeding; Mothers Receiving Medicaid Assistance

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-0)

Status: (Passed) 2010-04-29 - (H) Resolution adopted in final form. [HCR158 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2010-HCR158-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	158
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging the Department of Human Services, in consultation with the Department of Health, to develop a program to encourage breastfeeding among mothers who receive medical assistance from Medicaid.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, although the health benefits of breastfeeding are well-established, few budget analysts consider breastfeeding as a health cost-savings strategy; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service estimates that at least $3,600,000,000 in medical expenses could be saved each year if the number of children breastfed for at least six months increased from forty-three per cent for babies born in 2006, to fifty per cent, as recommended by the United States Surgeon General; and

 

     WHEREAS, a study reported in Pediatrics concluded that, for every one thousand babies who are not breastfed, there are 2,033 more medical office visits, 212 extra days of hospitalization, and 609 excess prescriptions; and

 

     WHEREAS, breastfed infants experience fewer or less severe cases of diarrhea, respiratory infections, pneumonia, urinary infections, and ear infections.  Breastfeeding also is associated with a lower risk of asthma, childhood obesity, diabetes, childhood leukemia, and sudden infant death syndrome; and

 

     WHEREAS, in addition to the benefits to babies, mothers who breastfeed experience less postpartum bleeding, an earlier return to pre-pregnancy weight, a reduced risk of ovarian cancer and premenopausal breast cancer, and a lower risk of osteoporosis; and

 

     WHEREAS, forty-one per cent of births in the country are covered by Medicaid, and increasing breastfeeding rates among these infants may be one potential strategy for state budget savings; and

 

     WHEREAS, young mothers, those with less formal education, and African-American mothers are the least likely to breastfeed.  In 2006, only twenty-four per cent of mothers under age twenty breastfed their infants at six months of age, compared with 50.4 per cent of mothers age thirty or older; and

 

     WHEREAS, the National Business Group on Health notes that workplace breastfeeding programs may reduce health care costs by decreasing the risk of some health issues for women and children, reducing lost productivity and reducing absenteeism associated with caring for a sick child; and

 

     WHEREAS, in the current fiscally challenging environment, the State would be wise to seek additional ways to reduce health care costs by considering the economic benefits of breastfeeding; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Human Services, in consultation with the Department of Health, is urged to develop a program to encourage breastfeeding among mothers who receive medical assistance from Medicaid; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Directors of Human Services and Health.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Encourage Breastfeeding; Mothers Receiving Medicaid Assistance