20 bills address women’s health care

WASHINGTON — Rep. Olympia J. Snowe and four other congresswomen Thursday announced a package of legislation to promote equality in health care and research for women.

“We hope it will set an agenda for women’s health issues in the 1990s,” Snowe said at a news conference held to announce a total of 20 bills that address female medical problems ranging from deficient Medicare funds for mammograms to discrimination in research.

The congresswomen — Sen. Barbara Mikulskie, D-Md., and Reps. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo., Connie Morella, R-Md., Mary Rose Oakar, D-Ohio, and Snowe — cited a list of figures to demonstrate the disadvantages faced by women in medical studies and health care.

They said: The National Institute of Health spent less than 14 percent of its research budget on women’s health projects in 1987; three of the 2,000 researchers at NIH specialize in obstetrics and gynecology; heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women but all research is conducted on men; and women are the fastest growing group infected with AIDS in the United States.

“If we sound impatient, believe me, we are,” Schroeder said.