Women's Health Amendment Passes

After a three-day stalemate, the Senate voted 61 to 39 to approve an amendment to its health care bill. Insurance companies will be required to offer free mammograms and other preventative services for women.

Three Republicans - Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine, and David Vitter of Louisiana - voted in favor of the amendment. Two Independents also voted in favor. Two Democrats - Russ Feingold, Wisconsin, and Ben Nelson, Nebraska, opposed the proposal.

The Democrats’ legislation had already contained requirements that insurers cover a wide range of preventive care. The amendment, put forward by Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, goes further, mandating coverage for a broader package of services for women.

“The insurance companies take being a woman as a pre-existing condition,” Ms. Mikulski said. “We face so many issues and hurdles. We can’t get health care. We can’t get health insurance because of pre-existing conditions called a C-section.”

She added, “My amendment offers key preventive services, including an annual women’s health screening that would go to a comprehensive assessment, including the dangers to women in heart disease and in diabetes.”