Issue Position: Health Issues

Issue Position

Ensuring Seniors and Veterans Can Continue to See their Doctors
While we have now passeda long-term correction to the previously broken payment formula for Medicare and Tricare doctors, I will continue to work on the implementation of the new system to ensure fairer payments for physicians and helping to make certain that their patients enjoy access to the doctor of their choice.

Eliminating Smuggled Tobacco

I have reintroduced the Smuggled Tobacco Prevention (STOP) Act, bipartisan legislation that addresses the serious and growing problem of illegal tobacco trafficking. By giving our law enforcement the tools they need to crack down on the illicit tobacco trade, the STOP Act will combat tobacco-related death and disease, reduce funding for organized crime and terrorist organizations that threaten our national security, and raise government revenue without raising taxes. This is why it has the support of national public health groups including Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association.

Protecting Health Insurance Reform

I remain committed to preserving the hard-fought reforms to our health insurance system achieved through the Affordable Care Act, and will resist all efforts by those in Congress who seek to repeal or defund it. Repeal would shift rights away from American families back to insurance companies, leave millions of Americans with no hope of securing insurance, force young adults off their parents' insurance plans, and return insurance company discrimination against children with pre-existing conditions. For seniors, the repeal would also mean the end of free Medicare preventive care, forcing seniors to pay new fees for everything from cancer screenings, to diabetes testing and routine check-ups, and an end to 50% discounts on brand name prescription drugs for those who have reached the "donut hole" gap in coverage. You can hear a speech I delivered on the House floor against these misguided repeal efforts.

Defending Reproductive Rights

I trust women to make their own healthcare decisions, which is why I oppose efforts to block access to comprehensive reproductive care and fully support measures that help protect women's health.

There is a steady drumbeat to overturn Roe v. Wade and take away a woman's right to choose--even in the tragic cases of rape, incest, or dangerous health risks. Women in Texas face some of the most extreme barriers in accessing reproductive healthcare in the country. These excessive restrictions are not supported by medical experts--but they do shutter safe, comprehensive clinics and jeopardize women's health. That is why I am a sponsor of the Women's Health Protection Act, which would make unlawful many of the kinds of state and local restrictions that block women's ability to obtain high-quality reproductive healthcare.

Attacks on reproductive healthcare are far-reaching, and a woman's ability to access birth control is threatened as well. After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of employers being able to deny their employees birth control, I joined the Protect Women's Health from Corporate Interference Act--a bill that would have fixed that decision.

Though more attacks will surely come, I will continue working hard to ensure women can make their own healthcare decisions.

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