PROTECTING WOMEN'S HEALTH

• As a nurse and life-long resident of Long Island, Congresswoman McCarthy is working hard in Congress to raise awareness about the health-care needs of women and children.

• Representative McCarthy is an original supporter of H.R. 2723, the Bipartisan Consensus Managed Care Improvement Act of 1999, which protects consumers in managed-care plans and other health coverage. Provisions for women and children include: direct access to an OB/GYN for women, direct access to specialists and pediatricians, and allowances for a broad range of health-care professionals to provide OB/GYN services. This bill passed the House last year.

• Congresswoman McCarthy is a strong voice in Congress for breast cancer prevention and treatment in this country. She has testified about the alarming rate of breast cancer on Long Island and worked to secure funding for breast-cancer research projects on Long Island through the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
   
• Congresswoman McCarthy supports and is working hard to defeat breast cancer. Because of this dedication, she is pushing for the passage of the following legislation:

• HR 116, the Minimum Hospital Stay for Mastectomies, which ensures that individual and group health insurance conglomerates provide coverage for a minimal hospital stay for mastectomies and other breast cancer treatments;

• H.R. 383, the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act, which requires health plans to provide coverage for a minimum hospital stay for mastectomies and lymph node dissection for the treatment of breast cancer. It also mandates coverage for secondary consultations;
   
• H.R 547, the Taxpayers' Cancer Research Funding Act of 1999, which will amend the Internal Revenue Code to provide a checkoff box for breast cancer research;

• H.R.1070, which provides medical assistance for certain women screened and found to have breast or cervical cancer under a federally funded screening program;

• H.R. 1596, the Consumer Involvement in Breast Cancer Research Act, which promotes increased involvement of advocates in decision-making at the National Cancer Institute.

As a nurse, Congresswoman McCarthy knows that the best way to cut health-care costs is prevention. To this end, Representative McCarthy supports the following legislation:

• H.R.889, the Robin Danielson Act, which establishes a program for the collection and analysis of data on toxic shock syndrome;
   
• H.R. 890, the Tampon Safety and Research Act, which provides for research to determine the extent to which the presence of dioxin, synthetic fibers, and other additives in tampons and similar products pose any risks to the health of women, including risks relating to cervical cancer, endometriosis, infertility, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, immune system deficiencies, pelvic inflammatory disease and toxic shock syndrome;
   
• H.R. 2120, the Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act of 1999, which requires equitable coverage of prescription contraceptive drugs and devices, and contraceptive services under health plans;
   
• H.R. 2538, the Folic Acid Promotion and Birth Defects Prevention Act of 1999, which amends the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national folic acid education program to prevent birth defects.

Congresswoman McCarthy knows all too well the toll that violence takes on our families. Her dedication to stopping violence in our communities is what brought her into the public service. In addition to her gun legislation, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy is an ardent supporter of the following legislation:

• H.R. 2370, the Domestic Violence Employment Security Act of 1999, which provides that no individual shall be denied unemployment compensation solely on the basis of leaving employment due to a reasonable fear of domestic violence;
• H.R. 357,Violence Against Women Act II, which encompasses almost all previous written legislation protecting women and children from violence. This includes: the Battered Women's Employment Protection Act, the Workplace Violence Against Women Prevention Tax Credit Act, the Protections Against Violence and Abuse for Women with Disabilities Act, the Older Women's Protection from Violence Act of 1999, the Access to Safety and Advocacy Act, the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Victims' Housing Act, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999, the Child Abuse Accountability Act, the Family Safety Act, the Battered Women's Shelters and Services Act, and the Violence Against Women Act of 1999;

• H.R. 1139, the Affordable Child Care, Education, Security and Safety Act, which makes child care more affordable for working families and for stay-at-home parents with children under the age of one, to double the number of children receiving child-care assistance, to provide for after-school care, and to improve child-care safety and quality and enhance early childhood development;
   
• H.R. 1488, the Compassion for Children and Child Support Enforcement Act of 1999, which repeals provisions relating to State enforcement of child support obligations and provides for the disbursement of such support. In addition, this bill requires the IRS to collect and disburse such support through wage withholding.