WASHINGTON, DC - Energy and Commerce Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR), Health Subcommittee Republican Leader Dr. Michael Burgess (R-TX), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Republican Leader Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN) ask committee majority for a follow-up hearing on maternal mortality and morbidity. This is a serious public health issue that has seen an increase in deaths over the years and disproportionately impacts minorities.
“Despite massive innovation in health care and advancements in technology, over the last two decades, the number of American women who die each year from a pregnancy-related cause has increased dramatically," wrote Walden, Burgess, Guthrie, and Bucshon. “Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) implemented the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System, the number of reported pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. has steadily increased from 7.2 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1987 to a high of 17.8 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2009 and 2011. Persistent racial disparities in the maternal morbidity and mortality are even more alarming, as black and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) women are about three times as likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause as white women."
Walden, Burgess, Guthrie, and Bucshon in a letter to Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Health Subcommittee Chair Anna Eshoo (D-CA) also call for consideration of Excellence in Maternal Health Act of 2019. This bipartisan bill was left out of a hearing on maternal mortality held on September 10th of this year.
“This hearing reviewed four Democratic-led bills, but did not allow for consideration of H.R. 4215, Excellence in Maternal Health Act, a bipartisan bill led by Representative Larry Bucshon, which is the House companion to the maternal mortality provisions in Senator Alexander and Senator Murray’s bipartisan bill, S. 1895, Lowering Health Care Costs Act," wrote Walden, Burgess, Guthrie, and Bucshon.
