Jeanette Acosta Invest in Women’s Health Act of 2026

Section 4: This section authorizes grants and contracts to expand preventive health services and life-saving cancer screenings, including Pap tests, human papillomavirus tests, and vaccinations. This is positive because it directly helps women, particularly women of color, access critical healthcare services that they might otherwise lack.

Section 5: This section establishes a demonstration training project to train physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants in up-to-date breast and gynecologic cancer screening. This provision is beneficial because it includes training on implicit bias, cultural competency, and structural racism, which aims to improve communication and care for rural, underserved, and minority communities.

Section 7: This section creates a two-year demonstration project on human papillomavirus and cervical cancer co-testing, prioritizing low-income, uninsured, or medically underserved populations. This is a positive step because it provides funding for culturally and linguistically appropriate delivery models, such as interpretation services, to improve health outcomes for women facing disproportionate rates of cervical cancer.