Issue Position: Healthcare

Issue Position

Issue Position: Healthcare

Congressman Murtha has dedicated much of his career to trying to shape national policies on health care and leading the fight to direct funding to key programs and medical research.

When he learned several years ago that diabetes had reached epidemic proportions in Western Pennsylvania, he launched a relentless campaign to reverse the trend in an effort to ease the heavy physical toll the disease takes on its victims and relieve the heavy financial burden it places on the nation's strained health-care system.

He has secured tens of Jack discusses diabetes with the staff of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center during the 2005 Showcase for Commerce in Johnstown.millions of dollars for UPMC's Diabetes Institute for a wide range of diabetes prevention, education and outreach programs that are making inroads in the region and for a Children's Hospital project designed to improve the prediction, understanding and managing of complications of Type 1 diabetes, the type usually diagnosed in children and young adults. Because Type II diabetes, the type that usually occurs in adults, can often be prevented through diet and exercise, he has supported the opening of wellness centers to encourage residents to become more physically active.

He has been tireless in his support of cancer research. Through his leadership role on the U.S. House Defense Appropriations Committee, he successfully spearheaded the effort to establish a cancer research program within the Department of Defense, which became second only to the National Cancer Institute as a source of funding for breast cancer research. He has supported research initiatives in women's health, osteoporosis, neurofibromatosis, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, tuberous sclerosis and chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Murtha also led the fight in Congress to provide funding to promote awareness of the need for examinations to detect breast cancer and to advance research into the cause and treatment of the disease. Dedication of the Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center at Windber Medical CenterHe attracted the funding to create a world-class breast health facility at Windber Medical Center that bears his wife's name - the Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center. The patient-friendly facility offers a long list of services, including digital mammography, genetic counseling and education programs. He has forged partnerships between Western Pennsylvania hospitals and world-renowned institutions such as Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital, including an initiative that has led to research that could revolutionize the early detection and treatment of breast cancer and significantly advance efforts to eradicate the disease. Windber Research Institute is closely involved in the initiative.

He convinced resistant administrators at Medicare to pay for flu shots, and when he was chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, helped to expand the Navy's bone marrow registry into the National Bone Marrow registry, which dramatically increased the chances for people to find a compatible donor. He has fought to maintain adequate funding for Medicare and Medicaid, recognizing not only that these programs are essential for the care of millions of Americans, but also for the financial viability of hospitals, which have been forced to absorb large financial losses because of inadequate reimbursements. He has supported home-health initiatives designed to help keep people in the familiar surroundings of their homes and often avoid the high cost of nursing homes, as well as advances in telemedicine that link patients, their doctors and/or their medical information and diagnosis even if they're separated by miles.

He co-authored child hospice legislation to establish a national program to help children who face life-threatening illnesses and their families. The legislation provided grants to children's hospitals, hospices and home health agencies to train and educate those who care for the children on how to provide end-of-life care and for the National Institutes of Health to conduct research in pain and symptom management in children. A second part of the bill created Medicare and private market demonstration programs to allow for the integration of curative and palliative care, easing the burden on doctors and parents to make end-of-life decisions for children.

He worked with the Defense Department to develop the Defense and Veterans Head Injury Program, which, supports research and tracks those with head injuries to better evaluate various treatment methods.

And when Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was about to be killed by federal regulations, he convinced the White House to be more flexible and saved the children's health care program.

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