Progress of the Bill

Our bill has not yet had any further developments. The bill was introduced January 6, 2009 and was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. This bill still needs to be voted on by the House and the Senate. Then it would need to be considered by the President, and only after all of these votes went through would then the bill become a law. We are currently in the process of writing to key stake holders and legislators regarding this bill asking for their support. An ongoing issue that has continued to develop for pregnant women is that of many of these women cannot afford to wait for their insurance plans to kick in after a few months are they are in need of receiving prenatal care, exams, and tests throughout all months of pregnancy. If this bill were to be passed, this waiting period would be eliminated. So far, there have been no advances or developments within the health care field that would significantly reduce this source of stress in not only those women awaiting insurance coverage, but for those who are not eligible at all. Although there are free health clinics developing in areas nationwide, in no way can these clinics receive enough funding without the help of the government to cover all of the pregnant women in need. This is why we feel this bill is such a necessity to pregnant women and why we are trying to push forward and gain further support.