Brooklyn Lawmakers On The Move Sept. 6, 2018

Clarke Co-Sponsors Bill To Reduce Maternal Mortality Racial Disparities

U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-Crown Heights, Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, Brownsville) along with co-sponsor U.S. Rep. Alma S. Adams (D-NC-12) yesterday introduced the Maternal Care Access and Reducing Emergencies (CARE) Act, a bill to reduce the racial disparities in maternal mortality and morbidity.

The measure comes as the maternal mortality rate in the United States has increased over the past 25 years, in comparison to many other nations. For African American women, maternal mortality eclipses white women at rates three to four times as high.

“Maternal mortality is a women’s health issue. As with all health disparities, women of color, especially black women are most impacted. Our country is the only developed nation in the world where the rates of women dying during childbirth are rising. American women are five times more likely to die during childbirth than British women and we rank last amongst our global peers in maternal health and mortality,” said Clarke.

The Maternal CARE Act:

• Creates two new grant programs focused on reducing racial health disparities in maternal health:
  • Implicit Bias Training Grants: Addresses implicit bias—bias in judgement or behavior resulting from implicit attitudes and stereotypes—by establishing competitive grants directed to medical schools, nursing schools, and other health professionals training programs to support implicit bias training. Priority is given for training in obstetrics and gynecology.
  • Pregnancy Medical Home Demonstration Project: Establishes a demonstration project to assist up to 10 states with implementing and sustaining pregnancy medical home (PMH) programs to incentivize maternal health care providers to deliver integrated health care services to pregnant women and new mothers and reduce adverse maternal health outcomes, maternal deaths, and racial health disparities in maternal mortality and morbidity.
• Directs the National Academy of Medicine to study and make recommendations for incorporating bias recognition in clinical skills testing for U.S. medical schools.

U.S. Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-Brooklyn, Queens, Lower Manhattan) last week wrote U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urging the Secretary to immediately reverse a proposal that would make it harder for students defrauded by higher education institutions to seek loan relief.

In New York, there are 2,865 outstanding applications for debt relief from students who have been cheated by predatory lenders.

“As has been proven, predatory lenders, including many for-profit colleges, scam students into amassing heavy levels of debt, often leaving them without a credible degree to show for it,” said Velázquez. “By issuing this rule to make it harder for defrauded students to secure loan relief, Secretary DeVos’ Education Department is once again working to serve the interests of corporate lenders at the expense of hard-working families. I strongly urge the Secretary to reverse course and start working on behalf of young Americans who deserve a path to loan relief.”

In 2017, Secretary DeVos delayed the implementation of Obama-era rules designed to improve the debt relief process for defrauded borrowers. Among other changes, DeVos’ proposal unveiled in July cuts nearly $13 billion in student loan relief for students cheated by predatory lenders.

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