Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), a longtime advocate on women’s health issues, lauded today’s successful passage of a key women’s health amendment offered in the U.S. Senate by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Senate’s major health insurance reform bill. The amendment would guarantee health insurance coverage for women’s basic preventive care and screenings at no cost to the patient. But, Nadler noted, because it will be several years before an insurance exchange is up and running, it is also essential for the House to pass H.R. 995, Nadler’s Mammogram and MRI Availability Act, which would ensure that women do not have to wait for these critical services. H.R. 995 would also address the health needs of women who are at a high risk of breast cancer, an area which is not covered by the House or Senate health insurance bills.

Nadler issued the following statement:

“Today’s passage of Senator Mikulski’s amendment is a key victory for women and health care reform. Now more than ever, we must ensure that women and their doctors remain at the center of these critical – and life-altering – health decisions. And we simply must guarantee that cost is never the barrier between women and their health care needs. I applaud Senator Mikulski and her colleagues for passing this important legislation. Nevertheless, there is still much more to be done on this front. In the House, we must pass my mammography legislation, H.R. 995, the Mammogram and MRI Availability Act.”

The Mammogram and MRI Availability Act would require insurance companies that already pay for diagnostic mammograms and MRIs to also pay for annual screening mammograms for women aged 40 and over, and annual screening MRIs for high-risk women.

The Mikulski amendment would require health plans to cover comprehensive preventive care and screenings that address women’s unique health care needs without cost sharing. This amendment would require that, in addition to the care and screenings specified in the recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force, the women’s preventive care outlined by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-supported guidance would also be covered at no cost to patients.