ContactsNewark Camden Washington, DC |
Improving Access to Affordable and Quality Health CareSenator Lautenberg believes every American should have access to affordable, quality health care, and he is working with President Obama and colleagues in Congress to pass major health reform legislation to accomplish this goal. Senator Lautenberg has been fighting to reduce health care costs, improve and expand programs that have a proven record of providing access to affordable health insurance for working families, and focus our health care system on preventing disease rather than simply treating it. To move our health care system into the 21st century, Senator Lautenberg supports shifting to privacy-protected electronic medical records. He also believes insurance companies should not be permitted to deny or limit coverage because of preexisting conditions such as diabetes and asthma, and he supports allowing small businesses to band together to get health insurance for their employees. Focus on New Jersey Senator Lautenberg has consistently fought to ensure that New Jerseyans have access to health care and state-of-the-art facilities in our state. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he has secured millions of dollars for hospitals and mobile medical facilities in New Jersey, and research for cancer, autism, diabetes and other diseases. Senator Lautenberg successfully fought off attempts to eliminate health care for thousands of New Jersey kids under the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and pushed to expand the CHIP program to cover even more children in New Jersey. He also successfully fought for continued access to New Jersey’s successful PAAD and Senior Gold prescription drug programs for 200,000 New Jersey seniors during the Medicare prescription drug coverage debate in 2003. He has authored legislation that would increase prevention and treatment of diabetes in minority communities and to eliminate the Medicare prescription drug “doughnut hole,” arguing that seniors should not have to choose between paying heating bills and paying for medication.
Senator Lautenberg signs his name to a pledge to push the federal government to do more for cancer research. Lautenberg is seen here meeting with the New Jersey delegation who were in Washington, D.C. to participate in the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network Celebration on the Hill. (September 20, 2006)
Women’s Health Senator Lautenberg has been one of the strongest supporters in Congress of upholding a woman's right to choose. He is also the author of the Responsible Education about Life (REAL) Act to provide funding for comprehensive sex education, and the Access to Birth Control (ABC) Act that would prohibit pharmacies from denying a person’s access to contraception. Senator Lautenberg has fought to repeal the "global gag rule” on federally funded family planning organizations, a step taken by President Obama shortly after he entered office, and to ensure that women have access to affordable birth control at university-based and safety-net health care clinics. Senator Lautenberg has also secured funding for research on heart disease, breast cancer and other diseases through the National Institutes of Health.
Better Health and Quality of Life Senator Lautenberg wrote the law banning smoking on airplanes, protecting individuals from deadly secondhand smoke and triggering a broader smoke-free revolution, as well as a ban on smoking in federally-funded places that serve children. He has also led the fight to prevent tobacco companies from misleading smokers into thinking that so-called “light cigarettes” are healthier than regular cigarettes. After years of pressure from Lautenberg, the federal government announced in late 2008 that tobacco companies could not use a previously-authorized but faulty test to determine whether cigarettes should be considered “light” or “low-tar.” Furthermore, Senator Lautenberg has strongly supported and cosponsored legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate tobacco products. Senator Lautenberg was an original cosponsor of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows people to take time off work to care for sick children or parents. He also coauthored and helped secure funding for the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides health care services to more than 44,000 New Jersey HIV/AIDS patients.
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