Lawmakers press for women’s health platform

Erin Neff

Thursday, May 3, 2001 | 9:09 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- An Assembly panel unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday establishing a women's health care platform to address the inequities in health care between men and women.

Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, and Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, were lead sponsors of Assembly Joint Resolution 2, a resolution drawing on a platform developed last summer by Women in Government, a nonpartisan group of female state legislators.

Cegavske and Tiffany last summer attended the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, where they worked on the health care platform. A similar effort was conducted for lawmakers at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.

"Women are different than men, duh," Tiffany told lawmakers and lobbyists gathered at a press conference and luncheon Wednesday to launch the resolution.

The resolution calls for the establishment of 16 steps related to research, education and care, such as encouraging unimpeded access to women's specialty health providers and expanding women's participation in clinical trials.

Although cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women, many leading clinical trials have excluded women from participation.

"I hope this is the first step in providing women with equal health care," Cegavske said.

Cegavske and Tiffany joined with Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt and first lady Dema Guinn in presenting the platform, but also thanked a number of Democratic lawmakers who attended and have supported women's health issues over the years.

"There is inconsistency in public health policy," Hunt said. "We know it as policy experts and business leaders, and we know it as women juggling families and careers."

The Assembly Health and Human Services Committee then heard brief testimony on the resolution before unanimously approving it.

The resolution also calls for timely diagnosis and treatment programs; increased government and private research on women's health issues; expanded medical and nursing school curricula in women's health; and urges permanent offices of women's health within state government.