Bill Text: OR SR1 | 2011 | Regular Session | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Urging United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to designate as preventive services all contraceptive drugs and devices approved for use by United States Food and Drug Administration.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Passed) 2011-03-18 - Filed With Secretary of State. [SR1 Detail]

Download: Oregon-2011-SR1-Enrolled.html

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     76th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2011 Regular Session

                            Enrolled

                       Senate Resolution 1

Sponsored by COMMITTEE ON HEALTH CARE, HUMAN SERVICES AND RURAL
  HEALTH POLICY

  Whereas federal law requires new health insurance plans to
cover women's preventive health care services without charging
copayments 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 what specific preventive benefits 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 percent of Oregon 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 results for both women and infants;
and
  Whereas since the United States lags behind 41 other countries
in the world for maternal mortality rate and behind 29 other
countries in the world for infant mortality rate, 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 improved access to birth control is supported by
leading health care providers and medical associations, including
the American Medical Association, the American Congress of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Family
Physicians, the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, the
American Public Health Association and the March of Dimes; now,
therefore,

Enrolled Senate Resolution 1 (SR 1-INTRO)                  Page 1

Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Oregon:

  That we, the members of the Senate of the Seventy-sixth
Legislative Assembly, strongly urge the Secretary of the United
States Department of Health and Human Services to include all
prescription contraceptive drugs and devices to prevent pregnancy
that are approved for use by the United States Food and Drug
Administration on the list of women's preventive health care
services that are exempt from cost-sharing in health insurance
plans.
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                                Adopted by Senate March 17, 2011

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                                   Robert Taylor, Secretary of
                                             Senate

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                                  Peter Courtney, President of
                                             Senate

Enrolled Senate Resolution 1 (SR 1-INTRO)                  Page 2