Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) was honored today as a Champion of Health Care, by the by the Healthcare Leadership Council, an award given to those supporting patient-centered medical progress.  Rep. Engel is a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health.

“I am proud and honored to receive this award for my work on health issues.  I am especially proud that it was for ‘patient-centered’ progress for which I was singled out.  As far as I am concerned, focusing on the patient is the most important way to enact changes and improvements in health care.  That is what I have been fighting for all of my years in Congress.  This theme is at the center of bills that I offered which battles Gestational Diabetes, ALS, and HIV/AIDS.  It is the patient – and in this case, the hero – who is the focus of the James Zadroga 9-11 Health Bill, which I have supported for many years.  It is the benefits designed for patients and their doctors which led me to support the Affordable Care Act.  This emboldens me to continue to push for more changes, hopefully leading up to a single-payer system at some point in our nation’s future,” said Rep. Engel.  “I thank the Healthcare Leadership Council for this award and applaud all their hard work in seeking progress and innovation to make our health care system better in the long run.”

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