Health Care
![Rep. Chu with health care staff at AltaMed Health Services in El Monte, CA Rep. Chu with health care staff at AltaMed Health Services in El Monte, CA](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130217133701im_/http://chu.house.gov/sites/chu.house.gov/files/styles/section_front_boilerplate/public/HealthCare.jpg)
Rep. Chu with health care staff at AltaMed Health Services in El Monte, California.
Our country boasts the best health care system in the world, but not every family has access to that health care system. We need a health care system that is accessible and affordable to everyone. That’s why I fought for reform to address the needs of the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for our seniors, put patients first and fund cutting-edge research.
With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, we reformed our health care system to slow the growth of health care costs and ensured that Americans have access to quality, affordable health care. If you are a young adult and you do not have coverage of your own, you can now stay on your parents’ health plan until your 26th birthday. If you are among 4 million eligible small businesses, you can receive tax credits if you choose to offer coverage to your employees – to cover 35% of the cost. If you are a senior, you will now be receiving a 50% discount on brand-name drugs if you enter the Medicare Part D ‘donut hole’ coverage gap – a discount that grows until the ‘donut hole’ is closed in 2020. That is just the beginning. As more of the new benefits start to take shape, American families will continue to see more improvements.
My health care priorities include:
Putting Prevention First
Expanding Health Care Coverage for Children
Fighting Insurance Company Rate Hikes
Funding a Cure
Fairly Reimbursing Physicians
Putting Prevention First
Chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes, are responsible for 7 of 10 American deaths each year, and account for 75 percent of the nation’s health spending. Our health care spending needs to be smarter, which is why I have voted to focus on prevention. Just $10 per person per year on proven community-based programs can save the country more than $16 billion annually. I am making sure that our nation moves from a nation focused on sickness to a nation focused on wellness.
Expanding Health Care Coverage for Children
It is unconscionable for health insurers to discriminate against our most vulnerable children. Unfortunately, it was a practice for health insurers to deny coverage to children if they had a pre-existing condition like asthma or diabetes. This unfair system could affect 1.1 million children in California. I fought hard to ensure that 100% of children would be covered regardless of their condition under the new health care reform law. I’m proud to say that insurers can no longer deny our children health care coverage. Now every child is eligible for coverage.
Fighting Insurance Company Rate Hikes
Health insurance companies have taken advantage of families by increasing health insurance premiums every year regardless of the cost of their expenses. These excessive rate hikes have lined their pockets without families experiencing any improvement in quality of care. I am protecting our families from any more abuse by insurance companies. From now on, insurance companies will have to justify to the public why they are raising their rates. We will no longer be at the mercy of insurance companies and we can hold them accountable for putting profits ahead of people.
Funding a Cure
We all have known friends or loved ones that may have breast cancer, hepatitis, diabetes or other serious health ailments. Federal research dollars are critical for preventing, treating and curing these diseases and disabilities, but those vital investments in science and our nation’s health are under attack and facing drastic cuts.
Without funding for health research our country could still be afflicted with smallpox, polio and tuberculosis. That’s why I continue to fight against cuts to health research funding at the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control. I know we can find a fure, and these dollars are also critical to California's economy. Our state received $3.3 billion in National Institutes of Health grants just last year, which supported more than 62,000 jobs.
Fairly Reimbursing Physicians
Unfortunately, the current Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula cuts reimbursement rates for physicians and puts the health care needs of our constituents in peril. This flawed system has created uncertainty and instability in our country’s premier health care service for seniors.
That is why I have repeatedly advocated for a full repeal of the SGR to stabilize payments rates for physicians. While Congress has enacted short-term fixes over the past several years to preserve beneficiary access to Medicare services in the short-term, we have ignored the true cost of this failed policy for too long. We must work towards a bipartisan solution that is fair and equitable for all physicians and Medicare patients.
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