Health Care
As a leader on the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health – the committee in Congress responsible for writing the majority of our nation’s health care laws – I have worked with my colleagues to provide patients with the best possible health care system, encourage medical innovation and advanced research, support our medical practitioners, and create better pathways for new cures to find their way to patients.
I believe the best health care is provided when doctors and patients decide on a health care plan, not when a government bureaucrat in Washington sets care standards. That is why I have worked tirelessly to deliver a better health care system for you.
We have the highest quality health care in the world, but our health care – from insurance to prescription drugs – costs way too much. That’s why I’ve spent so much time and effort working on and finding solutions for you and your family to make health care more affordable in part by bringing down your prescription drug costs and out-of-pocket expenses. I am working with my colleagues every day to find bipartisan solutions that will bring down the cost of health care.
This Congress, I have championed legislation to:
- Lower drug costs at the pharmacy counter;
- Encourage the development of treatments and cures for rare pediatric diseases and cancers;
- Improve and expand newborn screening panels to focus on rare diseases;
- Protect pre-existing conditions;
- Reauthorize our public health programs in a fiscally responsible way;
- Improve Alzheimer’s care and research;
- Repeal onerous health care taxes that drive up costs;
- Encourage more active households through tax credits;
In the 114th Congress, an Energy and Commerce led health initiative called the 21st Century Cures Act was signed into law. This innovative and bipartisan package of health care legislation advances the discovery, development, and delivery of life-saving treatments and cures. It is an excellent example of what can happen when Republicans and Democrats come together for a common goal.