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Health Care
Overview:
Health care reform is an essential part of America’s new direction. For too long, too many Americans have struggled with high costs, inferior care, or no care at all. We must not be a nation where helpless children cannot receive necessary medicine or visit their doctors for routine check-ups because it’s too expensive. We cannot let pettiness and bickering derail the innovation of medical science that, if given the chance, will produce breakthroughs in treatment and care. I am committed to working with my colleagues in the Congress and the Administration to lower health care costs, improve the quality of care, and expand access to that care to all Americans.
Health Care Reform:
FINAL LEGISLATION:
CD-2 Specific Information:
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Summary Documents:
Provisions At A
Glance:
Colorado Specific Information: Division of Regulatory Agencies (DORA)
Universal Coverage
I believe that all Americans should have access to quality, affordable health care. No one should have to refuse life-saving treatment or live with debilitating illness because they can’t afford a doctor. By establishing single-payer universal coverage, the government can ensure that no suffering American falls through the cracks. A single-payer system would compensate medical professionals and institutions from one fund, rather than subject doctors and patients to a labyrinth of paperwork and bureaucracy. This would reduce administrative costs and secure assets that many private companies cannot. I also strongly support community health care providers, like Clinica Family Health Services in Boulder County and Summit Community Care Clinic in Summit County, who are doing their best to fill in the gaps in coverage in our current, broken system.
Children’s Health Care
Keeping American’s children healthy is one of my top priorities. I am proud that during my first few weeks in Congress, I was able to support the State Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization of 2009 (SCHIP). Leaders of both parties in the House and the Senate worked quickly to ensure that SCHIP would be one of the first measures approved by President Barack Obama. I proudly lead the bill’s debate on the Floor of the House, urging my colleagues to join me in bringing health coverage and quality care to 11 million American children, 170,000 of whom live in Colorado. We have no greater responsibility than to care for our nation’s sick kids. We are moving in the right direction, but there is much more to be done.
Technology and Innovation
Medical technology has made great strides in the past few decades, but we have also been forced to confront new challenges. For every new vaccine or treatment that science produces, new diseases are discovered. One of the most promising innovations of our time comes from the results of embryonic stem cell research. I support a dramatic expansion in federal funding for this research. More than 100 million Americans suffer from conditions that could be treated by the appropriate application of these new discoveries. This is a public health priority that can no longer take a back seat to petty, partisan bickering. I favor federal funding for responsible and ethical research on new lines of stem cells, which would otherwise be destroyed.
Office Contact:
For more information on or questions about health care issues, please contact Rosalyn Kumar in my Washington Office.
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