issues

I believe every single Southwest Washington resident deserves access to quality, affordable health care, regardless of a pre-existing condition or if they’ve hit hard times economically.

I’m a steady proponent of patient-centered solutions, which includes allowing the purchase of insurance across state lines, expanding Health Savings Accounts, and strengthening Medicare Advantage plans. I also support lowering the cost of prescription drugs and have introduced and supported multiple bipartisan solutions to slash drug prices for our seniors and others who rely on life-saving medications.

To really fix health care, we must get serious about implementing a plan that doesn't grow the government but gets at the root causes of rising health care costs in Southwest Washington and across the country.

Here are some patient-centered solutions I support: 

• No Surprise Bills for New Moms Act: I’ve introduced bipartisan legislation which would simply the process for enrolling newborns in health coverage. As parents in Southwest Washington welcome a newborn baby, many are unknowingly incurring thousands of dollars in surprise medical billing simply because the window to complete enrollment paperwork is so narrow during this hectic time. This kind of surprise billing is contributing to rising health care costs for families across our nation. This bill will help give parents peace of mind that they’ll have more flexibility to enroll their child in health insurance after birth without risking these exorbitant and unnecessary costs.

• Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act: This legislation I’ve helped lead in Congress would allow the safe, responsible importation of certain prescription drugs from Canada.

• Helping Medicaid Offer Maternity Services Act (MOMS Act): I introduced this legislation in Congress, which has now been signed into law, that aims to reduce and end America’s growing maternal mortality crisis. Nearly 70% of new moms will have at least one health complication within a year of giving birth, so the Helping MOMS Act would ensure moms can see a doctor and obtain treatment for that critical 12-month period.

• Living Donor Protection Act: I’ve introduced legislation to help protect living donors. A 2014 study in the American Journal of Transplantation as many as 27% of living organ donors experience difficulty securing or paying for insurance after their procedures because of discriminatory practices. The Living Donor Protection Act would protect living organ donors and promote organ donation by removing barriers to organ donation, provide certainty to donors and recipients, and protect living donors in the private and civil service sector.

• Legislation to expand Medigap insurance coverage for patients living with end-stage renal disease: Folks living with end stage renal disease should have access to life-saving medications, dialysis, and kidney transplants needed to treat their illness. However, thousands of Americans under the age of 65 living with ESRD are barred from obtaining a Medigap plan that could help cover the cost of these treatments. This legislation I’m helping lead would expand Medigap insurance coverage to all patients living with end-stage renal disease, regardless of age.

• Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act: This legislation I’ve championed, which passed the U.S. House in 2020, would increase access to health services for women in rural areas, expand telehealth grants to include maternal health providers, and improve the quality of care and training for maternal health providers to improve birth outcomes and save lives during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum.

• Advancing Care for Exceptional Kids Act (the ACE Kids Act): I’m proud to have led this bill through Congress, which has now been signed into law. Two out of the three million medically complex children across the country are enrolled in Medicaid, accounting for 40% of costs for all children on Medicaid. Prior to this bill’s passage, many kids were severely limited from accessing the medical care they needed simply because of their zip code. The ACE Kids Act helped provide these kids with better care which, in addition to saving Medicaid spending (and taxpayer dollars), provides parents with the flexibility to seek care at the hospital that can help their child -- even when that hospital is in another state.

There is much more to do to make sure residents have the health care coverage they need – and I’ll continue working on solutions that get us there.