Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

SERVICE MEMBERS HOME OWNERSHIP TAX ACT OF 2009 -- (Senate - December 01, 2009)

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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I add my thanks to the Senator from Maryland, Ms. Mikulski, for bringing forth this important issue as we address health care reform in this country to ensure that all our families have access to health care.

One of the most important things we can do is make sure the caregivers in our families--the women--get access to preventive care so they can take care of their families.

This amendment will require all the health plans to cover comprehensive women's preventive care and screenings at no cost to women. That is extremely important. We all understand that--but especially in these tough economic times, when families across the country are struggling. One of the results has been that a lot of women are skipping or delaying their health care. We all know this personally. As moms, you take care of your kids first. When you do that, you often leave your families at risk because you haven't gotten the necessary preventive care.

We know that, in 2007, a quarter of women reported delaying or skipping health care because of the costs. In May of 2009, a report by the Commonwealth Foundation found that more than half of women delayed or avoided preventive care because of its cost.

This amendment will ensure that those women don't delay their preventive care because they cannot afford it. It is extremely important for this bill, it is important for women in this country, and it is important for men and children in this country as well.

I add my thanks to the senior Senator from Maryland and all our Senate colleagues who have been down here to make sure that one of the first things we do as we move the bill to the floor is make sure women's preventive care is covered.

I yield the floor.

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