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[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>
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