Men and Families Health Care Act of 2009 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the Office of Men's Health. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Office, to: (1) conduct, support, coordinate, and promote programs and activities to improve the state of men's health in the United States; and (2) provide for consultation among HHS agencies and offices to coordinate men's health programs and activities and establish a clinical registries database to assess and measure quality improvement of programs and activities relating to men's health.
[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2115 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2115
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an Office of Men's
Health.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 27, 2009
Mr. Hill (for himself and Mr. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an Office of Men's
Health.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Men and Families Health Care Act of
2009''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Risks to the health and well-being of the Nation's men
(and our families) are on the rise due to a lack of education,
awareness, and pursuit of preventative screening and care--
(A) men are leading in 9 out of the top 10 causes
of death;
(B) 1 in 2 men versus 1 in 3 women in their
lifetime will be diagnosed with cancer;
(C) the life expectancy gap between men and women
has increased from one year in 1920 to 5.2 years in
2005; and
(D) studies show that women are 100 percent more
likely than men to visit a doctor, have regular
physician check-ups, and obtain preventive screening
tests for serious diseases.
(2) While this health crisis is of particular concern to
men, it is also a concern for women regarding their fathers,
husbands, sons, and brothers.
(3) According to the Census Bureau, by the time men and
women reach age 65, the ratio of men to women reduces to 85 to
100. The growing disparity in this statistic suggests that
among other factors, the declining health of men increases the
risk of women entering retirement age as widows.
(4) According to the Administration on Aging, more than
half of elderly widows now living in poverty were not poor
before the death of their husbands.
(5) Men's health is a concern to Federal and State
governments which absorb the enormous costs of premature death
and disability, including the costs of caring for dependents
left behind.
(6) Educating men, their families, and health care
providers about the importance of early detection of male
health issues (i.e. cardiovascular, mental, prostate health,
cancer (lung, prostate, skin, colorectal, testicular, and
more), HIV/AIDS, osteoporosis, and other pertinent health
issues) can result in reducing rates of mortality for male-
specific diseases, as well as improve the health of the
Nation's men and its overall economic well-being.
(7) Of concern is the physical, mental, and emotional well-
being of our military men (and women) returning from war zones
and our veterans. We must pay attention to their needs and the
needs of their families.
(8) Recent scientific studies have shown that regular
medical exams, preventive screenings, regular exercise, and
healthy eating habits can help save lives.
(9) Appropriate use of tests such as prostate-specific
antigen (PSA) exams and blood pressure, blood sugar, lipid
panel, and colorectal screenings in conjunction with clinical
exams or self-testing, can result in the early detection of
many problems and in increased survival rates.
(10) Men's health is a concern for employers who pay the
costs of medical care and lose productive employees.
(11) Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed
cancer in the United States among men, accounting for 25
percent of all cancer cases--
(A) over 185,000 men will be newly diagnosed with
prostate cancer this year alone, and almost 29,000 will
die;
(B) costs associated with prostate cancer detection
and treatments exceed $8 billion annually and represent
8 percent of cancer and 0.4 percent of all health-
related expenditures in the United States;
(C) prostate cancer rates increase sharply with
age, and more than \2/3\ of such cases are diagnosed in
men age 65 and older;
(D) \2/3\ of annual prostate cancer expenditures in
the United States are paid for by Medicare; and
(E) the incidence of prostate cancer and the
resulting mortality rate in African-American men is
twice that of all other men.
(12) It is estimated that in 2008, approximately 115,000
men were diagnosed with lung cancer, and almost 91,000 of the
Nation's men died from lung cancer.
(13) It is estimated that in 2008, approximately 54,000 men
were diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and over 24,000 of the
Nation's men died from colorectal cancer.
(14) Men make up over half of the diabetes patients aged 20
and over in the United States (10.9 million men total) and
nearly \1/3\ of them do not know it--
(A) whereas approximately 21,000,000 Americans are
living with diabetes, men are 30 percent more likely to
die from the disease;
(B) 54 million American people have pre-diabetes
and 1.5 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in
2005; and
(C) people with diagnosed diabetes have medical
expenditures that are 2 to 3 times higher than patients
without diabetes and the estimated cost of diabetes in
2007 was $174,000,000, including $116,000,000 in excess
medical expenditures and $58,000,000 in reduced
national productivity.
(15) Over 8,000 men, ages 15 to 40, will be diagnosed this
year with testicular cancer, and 380 of these men will die of
this disease in 2008. A common reason for delay in treatment of
this disease is a delay in seeking medical attention after
discovering a testicular mass.
(16) Men over the past decade have shown poorer health
outcomes than women across all racial and ethnic groups as well
as socioeconomic status.
(17) Establishing an Office of Men's Health is needed to
investigate these findings and take further actions to promote
awareness of men's health needs.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF MEN'S HEALTH.
Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300u et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 1711. OFFICE OF MEN'S HEALTH.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish within the
Department of Health and Human Services an office to be known as the
Office of Men's Health. The Secretary shall appoint a director as head
of the office.
``(b) Activities.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of
the Office of Men's Health, shall--
``(1) conduct, support, coordinate, and promote programs
and activities to improve the state of men's health in the
United States, including by working with the Department of
Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the Federal
Employee Health Benefits Plan; and
``(2) provide for consultation among offices and agencies
of the Department of Health and Human Services for the purposes
of--
``(A) coordinating public awareness, education, and
screening programs and activities relating to men's
health;
``(B) coordinating programs and activities under
title XVIII of the Social Security Act relating to
men's health, including prostate cancer, diabetes,
colorectal cancer, cholesterol, and mental health
screening programs;
``(C) coordinating public awareness programs and
activities, including prostate cancer, diabetes,
colorectal cancer, cholesterol, and mental health
screening programs, for men identified at being at
increased risk of these diseases;
``(D) coordinating prostate-specific antigen (PSA),
diabetes, cholesterol, and colorectal cancer screening
programs and activities relating to men's prostate
health, cardiovascular health, and mental health in
order to conduct a comparative effectiveness review;
and
``(E) establishing a clinical registries database
to assess and measure quality improvement of programs
and activities relating to men's health.
``(c) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the
enactment of this section, the Secretary, acting through the Director
of the Office of Men's Health, shall submit to the Congress a report
describing the activities of such Office, including findings by the
Director regarding men's health.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
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