Health Care

Forty-seven million Americans currently lack health insurance, including nearly two million in Illinois. This is unacceptable. I will continue to fight for a health care system that provides universal coverage and extensive provider choice for all Americans.

I have voted 3 times to expand health care for 10 million low-income children through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), including over 470,000 in Illinois. Unfortunately, President Bush and his allies in Congress have defeated each and every one of our attempts. I will not rest until the SCHIP expansion is signed into law.

In one of my first acts as a Member of Congress, I voted for a bill to make health care more affordable by requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices.

I strongly support the expansion of federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research so we can find cures to diseases like Parkinson's, prostate cancer, leukemia, diabetes, and Alzheimer's.

I am also a founding member and Co-Chair of the Fragile X Caucus, an organization dedicated to increasing public awareness and helping find a cure for Fragile X syndrome, the most commonly inherited cause of mental impairment and retardation.

Finally, I am a proud member of the Rural Health Care Coalition (RHCC). The RHCC is a bi-partisan coalition committed to advancing rural priorities in health care policy. Since its inception, the RHCC has been successful in establishing the Office of Rural Health Policy within the Department of Health and Human Services and in forming the Critical Access Hospital program.

Critical Access Hospitals and CRNAs:
I have introduced legislation (H.R. 3066) to provide greater access to healthcare for rural communities by restoring vital federal funding for Illinois’ Critical Access Hospitals.

Critical Access Hospitals, created in 1997 and located in many small rural communities, have been eligible to receive federal reimbursement from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for certain surgical services. However, under a new interpretation of the classification process, some Critical Access Hospitals that were previously receiving reimbursements were made ineligible for federal funding, jeopardizing the health of patients in the surrounding areas. My bill restores this funding.