Healthcare

All American families should have access to affordable, quality healthcare. No family in the United States should face economic ruin because of a health crisis, or have to choose between a trip to the emergency room and paying their electric bill.

The passage of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act in 2010 was an incredible step forward to address predatory health insurance practices. Gender is no longer a pre-existing condition requiring women to pay more than men, children have the option to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26, and plans were required to provide certain essential health benefits like birth control and vaccinations at no cost. Former Governor Ralph Northam secured Medicaid expansion in Virginia in 2018, which allowed an estimated 730,000 adults in Virginia to gain access to health insurance. I continue fighting to protect these important achievements, and to protect and expand Virginians' access to health care.

We still have more work ahead to bring down health care costs. Last Congress, the House Ways and Means Committee (on which I serve) secured some of the biggest healthcare wins in years to bring down the price of prescription drugs. Those advances, enacted as sections of the Inflation Reduction Act, include the first-ever provision to allow Medicare to directly negotiate drug prices, and measures that will force drug companies to pay a penalty when prices they charge Medicare rise faster than inflation, cap annual out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000 for Medicare enrollees starting in 2025, and limit insulin co-pays for Medicare beneficiaries to $35 a month. The Inflation Reduction Act's health provisions will lower health insurance costs for families and seniors, shore up Medicare’s finances, and are projected to save the government nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars over the next decade. You can read about the law's benefits for Virginians here.

I will continue fight for further improvements in the U.S. healthcare system, especially for the neediest populations. I am a cosponsor of Medicare for All and a sponsor of the Choose Medicare Act because I firmly believe in a future with universal healthcare. I have introduced legislation to improve our health care system, like the Improving Diagnosis in Medicine Act, which would reduce diagnostic errors in medicine. And I lead the Suicide Prevention Task Force, to improve Congress’s response to the mental health crisis our country is facing.

Like many of my constituents and millions of Americans, I was outraged by the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate the protections women enjoyed for half a century under Roe v. Wade. I am a cosponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act to restore and codify those rights.