Health Care
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On November 14 in Wheaton and on November 21 in Rockville, Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen will host his fourteenth annual Federal Employees Health Benefits Forum, in cooperation with the Maryland Federation of Chapters of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association.
Today Congressmen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), and Don Beyer (D-VA) demanded justification for outrageous premium increases and lack of adequate communication in the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) and urged the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to extend the September 30th enrollment deadline.
Today Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen wrote a letter to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee requesting a hearing on drastic premium hikes for the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) after a seven-year contract to oversee the program was awarded to the only bidder. A total of 264,000 federal employees will face an average premium spike of 83 percent per month, with some seeing up to a 124 percent increase.
Today Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Co-Chair of the Childhood Cancer Caucus, joined U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), along with Representatives Michael T. McCaul (R-TX-10), G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-01), and Sean Duffy (R-WI-07) in introducing the RACE for Children Act (the Research to Accelerate Cures and Equity for Children Act) to support the development of novel and promising cancer drugs for children.
Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen continued the fight to fund efforts to combat the dangerous outbreak of Zika. He signed a letter to members of the Conference Committee working on Zika legislation, calling on the conferees to support funding levels that top public health officials say are needed to fight the virus and protect those at risk. The full text of the letter is below:
Dear Conferees:
Today Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen joined 177 House Democrats to call on House Speaker Paul Ryan to disband the Select Investigative Panel due to continued, escalating abuses that jeopardize Americans' safety. The Panel's reckless disregard has escalated to include 36 subpoenas sent to researchers and health care providers. This includes a Maryland physician who the Panel recently identified by name in a press release, putting him, his staff, and his patients in real danger.
Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen released the following statement on House consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, and the Zika Response Appropriations Act of 2016:
“The bills we’re considering today are indicative of how misplaced priorities and extreme Tea Party ideology are derailing progress on the pressing issues facing our nation.
“The defense bill includes unacceptable budget gimmicks that threaten the security of our troops and make a mockery of the budget process through the manipulation of the OCO war funding account.
Today Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen sent a letter to Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Chairman of the Select Investigative Panel conducting a partisan witch hunt against women’s health care providers, condemning the Panel for its inappropriate tactics that are putting Maryland health care providers and patients at risk.
Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen released the following statement after Vice President Joe Biden visited Johns Hopkins University to announce $125 million in philanthropic funding to launch an institute devoted to the study of a new and promising approach to cancer treatment:
Washington, DC – Today Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, joined Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and the Members of the House Democratic Leadership in sending a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan calling for immediate action on an emergency supplemental appropriations bill to address three urgent public health crises: the Zika virus, opioid addiction, and the ongoing Flint water crisis.