Y-ME Illinois Joins Gov. Blagojevich for Bill Signing
Ruth Brody, Executive Director for Y-ME Illinois joined Governor Blagojevich
on July 6th as he signed four bills relating to women’s cancers including Senate Bill 12.
SB 12 requires insurance companies in Illinois to provide mammography screening
for women under 40, if their physician deems them to be at a high risk for breast
cancer.
This bill was strongly supported by the IlliNOISY Advocacy Network and we are thrilled
to see it signed into law!
ENDORSE THE SMOKE-FREE CHICAGO CAMPAIGN
Y-ME Illinois is a proud partner of Smoke-Free Chicago. Learn more!
Summer Town Hall Meetings - Be Heard!
Town hall meetings are being held around the state so you can voice your concerns
about the skyrocketing costs of healthcare and hear from others in your community.
State legislators will be in attendance and they need to hear from you!
~ Tues., August 9 - Chicago Heights
~ Wed., August 10 - Des Plaines
~ Wed., August 24 - Decatur
~ Thurs., August 25 - Champaign/Urbana
Healthy Illinois is a statewide campaign and legislative initiative that aims
to make quality, affordable health care available to small businesses, self-employed
individuals, and all other uninsured residents. Y-ME Illinois is a member of
the coalition. Please take a moment to read about the latest news about the Campaign’s progress.
Save the Dates!
State of the 7th District of Illinois
Friday, Sept. 9, 2005
5 - 9 p.m.
District-Wide Town Hall Meeting
Saturday, Sept. 10, 2005
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Both events to be held at Malcolm X College, 1900 W. Van Buren, Chicago. For
additional information, contact the Office of Congressman Davis at (773) 533-7520
or tumia.romero@mail.house.gov.
Project LEAD® is a science training course developed by the National Breast Cancer Coalition
designed to help breast cancer activists influence research and public policy
processes.
Upcoming Project LEAD Dates and locations:
Washington, DC (Basic Project LEAD), November 2-6, 2005 - Application deadline
September 2, 2005
Washington, DC (Clinical Trials LEAD), January, 2006 - Application deadline November
2005
United Airlines helped ten IlliNOISY Advocates to attend the 2005 NBCC Advocacy
Conference in Washington, DC.
Thank you United Airlines!
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August 2005 IlliNOISY News
The latest news from the Y-ME IlliNOISY Advocacy Network! Watch for the most
recent edition in your inbox the first Tuesday of each month.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Want to Be More Involved with IlliNOISY Advocacy?
There are so many ways that you can! Have you ever wondered how you could get more involved in making sure our elected
officials make breast cancer a priority? Just look below for many options to
get more involved with Y-ME IlliNOISY Advocacy.
Join our Advocacy Committee
The committee meets five times a year as a large group and committee members sit
on one of five subcommittees to work on things such as building our network or
planning for the NBCC Conference in Washington, DC. Committee members who do
not live in proximity to the Y-ME Illinois Office (where meetings are held) may
conference call in to the meetings via a toll-free number. The time commitment
for this varies but can be flexible to your schedule. The Advocacy Subcommittees
meet according to the schedules of the members and the kind of work to be done.
The subcommittees often also meet via teleconference as this is more convenient
for members.
Join our Legislative Contact Team
In addition to our larger network of over 2,000 people that we contact via Advocacy
Alerts, we also have a core group of individuals (2 in each IL Congressional District)
who are proactive in contacting their U.S. Representative so that our network
is always in touch with their office. As a Legislative Team Member you will call
the Health Legislative Assistant (Health LA) to introduce yourself and let them
know you are a member of the Y-ME IlliNOISY Network that lives in their district
and that you will be in touch regarding breast cancer issues in the future. You will
also often be the first person to contact the Representative's office regarding
legislation and/or issues. The time commitment is all over the phone so it's
very feasible even if you have a busy schedule.
Take your voice to Capitol Hill in the fight against breast cancer! Attend the
National Breast Cancer Coalition Annual Advocacy Training Conference in Washington,
DC – April 29 – May 2, 2006.
This amazing event allows activists from all over the country to come together
to learn, challenge, ask the tough questions, and have a great time! Last year
over 50 IlliNOISY Network Members traveled to our nation's capitol to learn about
the issues and meet with our Illinois Members of Congress. This year we have
Y-ME Scholarships available to help our members attend this amazing weekend of
advocacy - please don't miss out on this exciting opportunity!
If you are interested in getting more involved, contact Alicia at ahuguelet@y-me.org or (312) 364-9071.
Update on the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act
NBCC Priority #3: Enactment of the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act
(H.R. 2231 / S. 757)
It is generally believed that the environment plays a role in the development
of breast cancer, but the extent of that role is not understood. This critical
issue must be approached thoughtfully and methodically and a national strategy
for increasing knowledge in this area must be developed. The Breast Cancer and
Environmental Research Act would create grants for the establishment of multi-institutional,
multi-disciplinary research centers to study the potential link between the environment
and breast cancer.
Many of our Illinois Members of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors of H.R.
2231 / S. 757 but there are many who still have not.
Illinois Members of Congress Who Have NOT Co-Sponsored H.R. 2231 / S. 757
~ Sen. Dick Durbin (D)
~ Sen. Barack Obama (D)
~ Rep. Bobby Rush (D-01)
~ Rep. Henry Hyde (R-06)
~ Rep. Danny Davis (D-07)
~ Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-14)
~ Rep. Timothy Johnson (R-15)
~ Rep. Lane Evans (D-17)
~ Rep. John Shimkus (R-19)
Please visit the IlliNOISY Action Alert page to take action by thanking those who have co-sponsored and urging those who
have not, to do so!
Fair Access to Clinical Trials (FACT) Act Introduced in the House
Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) have announced the
introduction of a bill (H.R. 3196) that would establish a mandatory federal clinical
trials database. The Fair Access to Clinical Trials Act seeks to provide patients,
clinicians and the public with access to information on the safety and efficacy
of prescription drugs and medical devices. Under the legislation, sponsors of
privately and publicly funded trials would have to register results on an online
database that would expand on ClinicalTrials.gov, a Web site administered by the National Library of Medicine
at NIH. Read more.
The Latest in Health Policy
Health Insurance Premiums Vary Widely For Single Adults, Survey Says
Monthly private health insurance premiums for healthy young people "vary by hundreds
of dollars" in U.S. cities, according to a study released last week by eHealthInsurance.com.
EHealthInsurance.com -- a private insurance agent -- examined premium quotes for
30-year-old nonsmoking men and women without pre-existing medical conditions in
the 50 most populous U.S. cities. Read more.
Pharmaceutical Industry Spent $800M on Lobbying Over Seven Years, Report States
The pharmaceutical industry spent $800 million on federal lobbying and campaign
contributions over the last seven years, according to a report released Wednesday
by the Center for Public Integrity. CPI reviewed more than 5,500 lobbying disclosure
reports filed with the Senate Office of Public Records. CPI found that the industry
spent $116 million on lobbying and political campaigns in 2003, when Congress
approved the prescription drug benefit under Medicare that bars HHS from negotiating
drug prices with the industry. Read more.
United States Spends More Per Capita on Health Care than Other Nations, Study
Finds
The United States spends more on health care per capita than other industrialized
nations but does not receive more services, according to a study published on
Tuesday in the July/August issue of Health Affairs. For the study -- led by Gerard Anderson, a health policy professor at Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health -- researchers analyzed the health care costs
of 30 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Read more.
Senate Approves Bill That Would Create National Patient Safety Database
The Senate on Thursday by voice vote approved a bill (S 544) that would establish
a national patient safety database to encourage the reporting of medical errors,
CQ Today reports. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.), would establish
a legal framework to log error reports and develop an HHS database to catalog
reports and identify trends. It also would provide new legal protections for new
information in the patient safety reporting system. The House Energy and Commerce
Committee on Wednesday approved a version of the bill (HR 3205). The House and
Senate bills were negotiated by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Chair Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) and committee ranking member Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)
"with the understanding that the legislation would not shield information now
available to lawyers for use in court cases," CQ Today reports. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Joe Barton (R-Texas) said
he expects the bill to quickly pass the House.
Gov. Blagojevich Has Not Yet Signed H.B. 672
After telling health agencies that he would sign HB 672, Governor Blagojevich
is now weighing health concerns against the economic impact of the bill. HB 672
amends the Illinois Clean Indoor Air Act to allow local units of government to
enact comprehensive clean indoor air ordinances. The Governor needs to hear how many people weigh in on the side of public health!
Please take a moment to call Governor Blagojevich and let him know you want to
give every city in Illinois the right to decide about secondhand smoke in public
places.
Governor Blagojevich's Offices:
Springfield - 217-782-0244
Chicago - 312-814-2121
Suggested Message When Calling:
"Hello, my name is ______________ I am requesting Governor Blagojevich sign HB
672 the law that would allow cities to enact their own clean indoor air laws.
Thank you."
Legislation Recently Introduced:
S. 1500 - Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) / Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A bill to authorize the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to
develop multidisciplinary research centers regarding women's health and disease
prevention and to conduct and coordinate a research program on hormone disruption.
S. 4 - Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) / Finance
A bill to reduce healthcare costs, expand access to affordable healthcare coverage,
and improve healthcare and strengthen the healthcare safety net.
You can read bills in full text format online.
~ Medical malpractice payouts by the 15 leading insurance companies increased
by 5.7% from 2000 to 2004. During the same period, the net premiums collected
by those 15 companies increased by 120%.
~ A new national survey of women on their health finds that a substantial percentage
of women cannot afford to go to the doctor or get prescriptions filled.
~ As health care costs grow, more than one-quarter of non-elderly women (27%)
and two-thirds of uninsured women (67%) report they delayed or went without care
they believed they needed in the past year because they could not afford it, compared
to 24% and 59% respectively in 2001.
~ Smoking cost the nation about $92 billion in the form of lost productivity
in 1997-2001, up about $10 billion from the annual mortality related productivity
losses for the years 1995-1999, according to new data from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
~ In a study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that academic hospitals had higher performance scores than
nonacademic hospitals, while not-for-profit hospitals did a better job than for-profit
hospitals.
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