Assembly Concurrent Resolution No.
2–Assemblymen Cegavske, Tiffany, Giunchigliani, Chowning, de Braga,
Anderson, Angle, Arberry, Bache, Beers, Berman, Brower, Brown, Buckley,
Carpenter, Claborn, Collins, Dini, Freeman, Gibbons, Goldwater, Gustavson,
Hettrick, Humke, Koivisto, Lee, Leslie, Manendo, Marvel, McClain, Mortenson,
Neighbors, Nolan, Oceguera, Parks, Parnell, Perkins, Price, Smith,
Von Tobel and Williams
February 14, 2001
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Joint Sponsors: Senators Titus, Rawson,
Wiener, Porter, Washington, Amodei, Care, Carlton, Coffin, Jacobsen, Mathews,
McGinness, Neal, O’Connell, O’Donnell, Raggio, Rhoads, Schneider, Shaffer and
Townsend
____________
Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services
SUMMARY—Urges support for Women’s Health Care Platform:
Campaign 2000. (BDR R‑314)
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EXPLANATION
– Matter in bolded italics is new; matter
between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.
Green numbers along
left margin indicate location on the printed bill (e.g., 5-15 indicates page 5, line 15).
Assembly Concurrent RESOLUTION—Urging support for the Women’s
Health Care Platform: Campaign 2000 initiated by the Women in Government Task
Force.
1-1 Whereas, Women in Government, a national, bipartisan, nonprofit,
1-2 educational association of
elected and appointed women in state
1-3 government, introduced the
Women’s Health Care Platform: Campaign
1-4 2000 in Washington, D.C., on
May 17, 2000, to serve as a call to action by
1-5 policymakers nationwide to
lead the way to equality in women’s health
1-6 care; and
1-7 Whereas, The Women’s
Health Care Platform is an initiative that
1-8 highlights the inequalities
in health care provided to men and women and
1-9 outlines goals to eliminate
those disparities by focusing on care, research
1-10 and education that are
relevant for women; and
1-11 Whereas, Women are
different, metabolically, hormonally and
1-12 physiologically from men and
have different patterns of health and disease,
1-13 with some diseases being
more common in women than in men; and
2-1 Whereas, More than
one in five women have some form of
2-2 cardiovascular disease, and
it is estimated that over half of all
2-3 postmenopausal women will
develop a spontaneous fracture as a result of
2-4 osteoporosis; and
2-5 Whereas, Women are
three times more likely to develop rheumatoid
2-6 arthritis and two to three
times more likely to suffer from depression; and
2-7 Whereas, Women are
less often referred for diagnostic tests and less
2-8 often treated for heart
disease than men with the same disease; and
2-9 Whereas, Women who
smoke are 20 to 70 percent more likely to
2-10 develop lung cancer, and,
during unprotected sex, women are 10 times
2-11 more likely than men to be
infected with the human immunodeficiency
2-12 virus; and
2-13 Whereas, Women
outnumber men three to one in long-term care
2-14 facilities; and
2-15 Whereas, Most men and
women agree that women are entitled to have
2-16 quality medical treatment
and to have access to the latest technologies and
2-17 appropriate diagnostic
tests; and
2-18 Whereas, Even though
the National Institutes of Health and the Food
2-19 and Drug Administration were
required to include women in clinical trials
2-20 10 years ago, women remain
under-represented in health studies; and
2-21 Whereas, While there
has been some national attention on women’s
2-22 health care issues and some
legislative activity by the Congress of the
2-23 United States on appropriate
access, there remains little change in the
2-24 vitally important issues of preventive
care and treatment; and
2-25 Whereas, An increase
in state support for women’s health can make a
2-26 significant difference in
improving the status of women’s health; now,
2-28 Resolved by the Assembly of
the State of Nevada, the Senate
2-29 Concurring, That every state agency
and institution of learning or
2-30 recipient of state grants or
funding in the State of Nevada is urged to take
2-31 appropriate action to
achieve improved and equal access for women to
2-32 quality health care,
including, without limitation, measures to:
2-33 1. Provide equal access for
women to quality health care, including
2-34 state-of-the-art medical
advances and technology;
2-35 2. Increase the number of
women covered by comprehensive health
2-36 care insurance, including
primary and preventive health care;
2-37 3. Promote strategies to
prevent serious health problems by increasing
2-38 patient access to
recommended diagnostic and screening tests, preventive
2-39 health regimens and
recommended treatments;
2-40 4. Encourage unimpeded
access to women’s specialty health providers
2-41 and improve communications
between providers and patients;
2-42 5. Create and promote
partnerships to develop programs designed to
2-43 improve the scope and
quality of women’s health care;
2-44 6. Continue to expand
participation of women in clinical trials;
2-45 7. Increase government and
private research on women’s health issues
2-46 with special attention to
the differences between men and women and how
2-47 those differences affect
quality health care;
3-1 8. Conduct more research on
the outcomes of health care interventions
3-2 and preventive measures to
demonstrate the long-term and short-term value
3-3 to women’s health;
3-4 9. Expand medical and
nursing school curricula in the area of women’s
3-5 health with increased
emphasis on gender biology;
3-6 10. Support public
education campaigns to increase women’s
3-7 awareness about their unique
health risks and to help them learn how to
3-8 negotiate the complexities
of today’s health care system and obtain the best
3-9 care available;
3-10 11. Conduct public health
campaigns to focus on key preventive health
3-11 issues for women and expand
screening programs targeted at lower-income
3-12 women to include a full
range of known risk factors;
3-13 12. Urge the establishment
of permanent offices of women’s health
3-14 within the State of Nevada
to raise awareness of women’s special health
3-15 care needs and advocate
initiatives to address them; and
3-16 13. Foster development and
dissemination of publicly available
3-17 information on the quality
of health care and health outcomes that improve
3-18 women’s ability to choose the
best women’s health care plan; and be it
3-19 further
3-20 Resolved, That the
organization Women in Government be
3-21 commended for its leadership
in calling for action on these urgent issues
3-22 concerning women’s health in
the State of Nevada and throughout the
3-23 United States and for
outlining meaningful steps that can be taken to attain
3-24 improved and equal access
for women to quality health care, technologies
3-25 and treatments, to promote
the education of researchers concerning gender
3-26 differences and to gain
unimpeded access to women’s health providers; and
3-27 be it further
3-28 Resolved, That the
Chief Clerk of the Assembly prepare and transmit
3-29 a copy of this resolution to
the State Board of Health, the Director of the
3-30 Department of Human
Resources, the State Health Officer, the Board of
3-31 Medical Examiners, the State
Board of Nursing, the Board of Regents of
3-32 the University of Nevada,
the University of Nevada School of Medicine
3-33 and Joy Newton, the
Executive Director of Women in Government.
3-34 H