Tuesday, May 9, 2000

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --Congressman Ken Bentsen (TX-25) spoke out today in strong support of two health-related bills important to 25th District-area residents. The first piece of legislation that Congressman Bentsen argued for was the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act, H.R. 4386, which would provide critical health insurance benefits for low-income women who have been diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer. The second piece of legislation Congressman Bentsen urged support for was the Child Health Research and Prevention Amendments, H.R. 4365, which would authorize federal funding for the Pediatric Research Initiative, Poison Control Centers, the Birth Defects Prevention Program, and graduate medical education in Children's hospitals.

"Both of these bills are critical to saving the lives of thousands of women and children in the Houston area and throughout the nation," Congressman Bentsen said.

Congressman Bentsen described the plight of Pasadena resident Barbara Mitchell, 35, who was recently diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer at the Rose Center in Pasadena, Texas but cannot afford treatment. "Because of her previous cancer history, Ms. Mitchell has not been able to afford to purchase health insurance. At the age of 32, she discovered a lump in her breast and was treated for breast cancer through the public health system," Congressman Bentsen said. " However, because she owns her own dance studio which is considered to be an asset, she was required to pay for her $26,000 for her medical treatments. Unable to afford the high bills, Ms. Mitchell did not seek additional follow-up medical treatments until August 1999 when her breast cancer had advanced to Stage 3. If Ms. Mitchell had Medicaid coverage, she would have gotten better follow-up care and would have discovered this disease at a much earlier stage."

"To make matters worse, due to her lack of health insurance, Ms. Mitchell may be forced to sell her small business to pay for treatment," Congressman Bentsen said. "Both Republicans and Democrats can agree that no one should have to lose their livelihood to get appropriate medical treatment for cancer."

" The Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act would help prevent constituents such as Barbara Mitchell from being forced to choose between earning a living or being forced to leave their cancer undetected and untreated," Congressman Bentsen said. "This bill is similar to another bill which I have cosponsored, H.R. 1070, and is an important second step in our efforts to ensure that women get the health care services they need."

"Under current law, through the Centers for Disease Control's screening program, Congress provides federal funding to ensure that low-income women get the preventive screenings that they need to detect breast and cervical cancer," Congressman Bentsen. "However, once they have been diagnosed with cancer, they are currently not eligible to receive health care services to treat their cancers. This legislation would allow states to expand their Medicaid coverage to include low-income women who have been diagnosed with either breast or cervical cancer."

"During the 1990s, it is estimated that more than 2 million American women were diagnosed with either breast or cervical cancer," Congressman Bentsen said. "With proper diagnosis and adequate treatment, these low-income women will finally get the care they need to beat these diseases."

The second piece of health legislation that Congressman Bentsen actively pushed today was the Child Health Research and Prevention Amendments, H.R. 4365, which would authorize federal funding for the Pediatric Research Initiative, Poison Control Centers, the Birth Defects Prevention Program, and graduate medical education in Children's hospitals.

Congressman Bentsen was an original cosponsor of many of initiatives that were included in this comprehensive bill. However, Bentsen was disappointed that one of his measures, the Medicaid Child Eligibility Improvement Act (H.R. 1298) did not make it into this final bill. Bentsen's bill would expand the types of sites where children can be determined eligible for aid through Medicaid.

"It is a tragedy that there are 800,000 children in Texas and 4.4 million children across the country who are eligible for Medicaid, but aren't enrolled and aren't getting the basic health care they need," Congressman Bentsen said. "While I support the bill before us today, it is just a first step to addressing the problem. To reach out to the nearly 4.4 million uninsured children in the U.S. who are eligible for Medicaid, my legislation would expand the types of presumptive eligibility sites to include schools, child care resource and referral centers, child support agencies, and homeless programs."

"It is more cost-effective to enroll these children in Medicaid and ensure they receive preventive care through a family doctor rather than through the emergency room where children will be sicker and taxpayers will end up paying more," Congressman Bentsen said.

Congressman Bentsen, whose district encompasses the Texas Medical Center, was pleased that H.R. 4365 includes provisions that would reauthorize for five years the graduate medical education program for children's hospitals. "Under current law, Medicare does not provide funding for pediatric residencies for freestanding children's hospitals such as Texas Children's Hospital in my district because these hospitals do not treat a large number of Medicare patients," Congressman Bentsen said. "Last year, we enacted a law that provided a one-time capped entitlement for pediatric graduate medical education programs. This legislation would extend this valuable program for five years."

However, Congressman Bentsen, who has actively worked to correct disparities that affect hour nation's medical education and teaching hospitals by sponsoring H.R. 1224, again noted that today's legislation is only a first step. "This agreement is an important step toward ensuring that our nation continues to support its teaching hospitals in this era of managed health care," Congressman Bentsen said. "We must ensure stable, guaranteed funding to train future doctors and other health care professionals and conduct vital clinical research."

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