March 24, 2010
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March is Women’s History Month and as I watched the historic vote on health care reform on Sunday night, I was proud to see a woman, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at the helm. Along with the intense efforts of President Obama, Speaker Pelosi’s unrelenting pressure on House members will be recognized as a critical force towards the passage of this bill.
Although I am thrilled about the passage of health care reform, I am troubled by restrictions on abortion coverage that was included in the final bill. In the new system, women will be required to write two checks to their insurance company if it includes abortion services. It is feared that insurance companies will cease to cover abortions because of the bureaucratic and accounting difficulties making abortions much less accessible to women in spite of its legality. According to NARAL, 85 percent of private plans cover this care for women today which could be jeopardized.
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IMCHC will continue to monitor how these federal changes will affect the lives of women, children and families in Illinois and I hope you’ll join me, our Associate Director Kathy Chan and our staff attorney Sara Howard on a call next Wednesday, March 31st at 10AM to update IMCHC members about the legislation. Please RSVP to Sara Howard if you would like to participate.
As IMCHC continues to monitor health care reform, we are also working in Springfield, advocating for reform for women and children to eliminate pregnancy as a preexisting condition for private insurance plans, protect children’s health from toxins and improve data collection and sharing for premature infants in Illinois. Our Associate Director, Kathy Chan, works hard every day to focus our policy efforts, so keep an eye out for her in the Capitol Building.
Women’s History Month is about remembering how far we’ve come, while considering what more there is to do. I urge you to join us in the fight for women’s health in Illinois and America. Become a member of IMCHC, attend a chapter meeting, contact your legislators about our issues, tell a friend about our newsletter or nominate a worthy colleague for the Loretta Lacey Award.
Best Wishes,
Executive Director
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For more information about our upcoming events visit our calendar on our website.
MARCH
March 24 – Lake County Chapter Meeting in Grayslake
March 25 – S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G It Out for Student Health Grown Up Spelling Bee
APRIL
April 15 – The Chicago Immunization Campaign’s Spring General Meeting
April 21 – IMCHC Southern Illinois Chapter Meeting in Mt. Vernon
April 26 – Committee Calls for the Illinois Premature Infant Health Network
MAY
May 13-14 – 2010 School Health Center Conference in Springfield
May 26 – IMCHC Chicago Area Chapter Meeting
May 26-28 – 9th National Conference on Immunization and Health Coalitions in Chicago
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The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 21st alongside a modifying piece of legislation. A vote in the Senate on the House’s modifying bill is expected at any time via the procedure of reconciliation, a method which may only be used for budgetary matters.
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Nine changes that are expected to be made by the Reconciliation bill to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act include:
- More subsidies for average American families to afford coverage.
- Scaling back and delaying a tax on the value of insurance plans.
- Closing the Medicaid Part D Prescription Drug Plan ‘Donut Hole’.
- Cut backs in the expensive Medicare Advantage Plans.
- Pay raises for primary care physicians in Medicaid to bring them up to Medicare rates.
- Increases Medicare payroll tax for individuals making over $200,000 (couples $250,000).
- Lowers penalty for those not having insurance.
- Provides full federal funding for state Medicaid expansions for three years.
- Creates an independent body to monitor Medicare spending.
For more information about these changes please visit Kaiser Health News. For the full text of the Reconciliation bill visit here. For information about how your representative voted please visit here. We will continue to monitor and report on national health care reform. If you would like to be added to our action alert list please contact Sara Howard.
Interested in learning more about how women and children in Illinois will be impacted by this historic legislation? Please join IMCHC for a conference call briefing on Wednesday, March 31st at 10am.
RSVP now to Sara Howard at showard@ilmaternal.org or to 312-491-8161x32.
A limited number of conference call lines are available and a recording of the conference call will be available to those unable to participate.
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Illinois Has Opportunity for Head Start on Health Care Reform
With the Health Care Justice Implementation Act of 2010 (SB 3047) Illinois begins the long process of implementing national health care reform. The bill has three main goals:
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- Monitor the implementation of federal reforms;
- Assess current health care programs;
- Make additional recommendations regarding reforms.
SB3047 recently passed out of the Senate and awaits action in the House. For more information please contact Jim Duffett with the Campaign for Better Health Care at 217-352-5600.
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The Loretta Lacey MCH Advocacy Award is in honor of the late Loretta P. Lacey, RN, DrPh (1944-1994). Her career spanned from being a public health nurse to Assistant Chicago Commissioner of Health and finally to Professor. Her greatest achievement was to institute the expanded breast and cervical screenings free of charge through the City of Chicago and the Cook County Bureau of Health Services.
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Dr. Loretta Lacey spent 25 years in the maternal and child health field as researcher, teacher, administrator and, most importantly, advocate. She is remembered each year through this award.
For more information or to download a nominating form please visit our website.
Mark your calendars: Awards will be presented at IMCHC’s Annual Luncheon on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 at 12pm at Maggiano’s Little Italy, 516 North Clark Street, Chicago.
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Last Year’s Loretta Lacey Award Winner for Research: Jenifer Cartland
Education: Political Scientist, Doctorate at Loyola Chicago
Profession: Director of Child Health Data Lab, Researcher and Public Policy Analyst
Organization: Children’s Memorial Hospital |
Last year you won the Loretta Lacey Award for research, what sort of work are you doing currently?
My work is twofold currently. The first part is primarily epidemiological work on children’s health and well being in Illinois, which is focused on violence and injury. Violence and injury are two of the leading causes of death among children in Illinois and I am working to expand some of the surveillance of this issue. The second area of my work is community based evaluation research with organizations that serve young people in an effort to improve the services these organizations provide.
What did it mean to you to be recognized for your work by IMCHC?
Researchers don’t often get recognized because it’s not public work, it’s very private. We sit in our cubicles and crunch numbers and there just usually isn’t a lot of attention on researchers, so it was very rewarding.
Why do you feel public health is such a pressing issue in Illinois?
Public health is so high impact, most of the really big improvements in children’s health have come through public health measures and so to be able to focus on that is where you get the biggest impact. Public health also has a wonderful preventative aspect and more can be done in the area of injury, for example one of the leading causes of death in infants was motor vehicle accidents, but with the advent of car seats, and advocacy for them, now it is one of the lowest causes.
What interested you in the public health field originally?
I never actually chose to go into public health but began as a Medicaid researcher. What I loved about public health was that the institutions that affect kids and their health are in the community. These aren’t national organizations, which shows that what public health work addresses are issues that are local, which I find really interesting.
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Tickets now available!
March 25th
6 - 9 p.m.
More information >> |
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1849
Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to graduate from medical school.
1916
The first birth control clinic opens in Brooklyn, New York.
1928
The Pap smear is introduced by
Dr. George N. Papanicoloau.
1960
The birth control pill gains approval by the FDA as a safe method of birth control.
1970
The first School-based Health Clinic is implemented in Dallas, TX.
1973
Roe v. Wade declares unconstitutional Texas laws that made abortions illegal.
2006
The first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, most cancers of the vagina and vulva, and genital herpes, Gardasil, is approved by the FDA.
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