Health Care
Congresswoman Slaughter is a fierce advocate for science-based solutions to improve health care and make it more affordable. As the only microbiologist in Congress, the congresswoman is uniquely qualified to examine and discuss the health care issues facing our nation. With a wide range of legislative victories under her belt, Congresswoman Slaughter is considered one of the top health care authorities in Congress.
Congresswoman Slaughter is fighting to address some of the biggest health issues of our time, such as keeping antibiotics effective, preventing genetic discrimination, protecting women’s health, and ensuring affordable health care coverage for all.
Priorities
- Expanding Health Care Coverage: Congresswoman Slaughter was instrumental in passing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Thanks to the ACA, children can stay on their parents’ insurance until the age of 26, insurance companies can no longer deny a person health insurance due to preexisting conditions or charge women more than men for the same policies, and millions of seniors now have free access to life-saving preventative health care – all while reducing the federal deficit by billions of dollars.
- Preserving Antibiotics for Human Health: The congresswoman is the author of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), which she first introduced in 2007. PAMTA is designed to significantly reduce the quantity of antibiotics routinely used in the production of livestock and poultry. Scientific evidence indicates that this overuse of antibiotics in food production is currently contributing to the growth of antibiotic resistance threatening human health. Protecting the medical value of our antibiotics is critical to keeping American citizens healthy. For a more in depth article about antibiotic resistance, please visit the Antibiotic Resistance page here.
- Securing Research Funding: Today, scientists are on the verge of breakthroughs in genetics, cell biology, and other areas that will allow for innovative new methods of prevention, detection, and treatment, as well as advancing toward cures. With this in mind, Congresswoman Slaughter actively opposes proposed cuts to funding for the National Institute of Health (NIH) and advocates for the expansion of research efforts.
Accomplishments
Affordable Care Act (ACA): Then chair of the House Committee on Rules, Congresswoman Slaughter played a pivotal role in bringing the ACA to the floor of the House of Representatives for the final vote on passage. The ACA is making health care more affordable for American families. In the greater Rochester area alone, 213,000 people, including 53,000 children and 129,000 women with private health insurance coverage now receive preventive benefits – such as vaccines, contraceptive coverage and cancer screenings – for no cost. In Monroe County, 252,000 people now have insurance policies that have no lifetime or annual limits on coverage. The uninsured rate in Monroe County has fallen by 23 percent since the ACA went into effect.- Inclusion of Women and Minorities in Research: Congresswoman Slaughter dedicated the first $500 million in federal funds to breast cancer research at the National Institute of Health (NIH). Prior to 1993, all clinical trials at the NIH were being conducted only on white men. This meant that diseases killing thousands of women per year, like breast cancer or ovarian cancer, or those that disproportionately affect minorities, such as sickle cell anemia, were not being researched properly. Congresswoman Slaughter led the charge to fix this discrepancy, culminating in the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, which mandated that the NIH include women and minorities in all human subject research.
- Co-Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus: Congresswoman Slaughter fights tirelessly to advance the rights of women, including reproductive rights. In her role as co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, she works to protect women’s reproductive freedom and to educate the public about reproductive health. In response to the Supreme Court case Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., which allowed an employer to deny coverage for certain types of contraceptive methods, Congresswoman Slaughter introduced the Not My Boss’s Business Bill, which would ensure that no corporation can deny their employees federally mandated health services.
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA): Congresswoman Slaughter authored the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which became law in 2008 after a fourteen-year congressional battle. The late Senator Ted Kennedy called GINA the “the first civil rights bill of the new century.” For more information about GINA, please visit the Public Health page here.
More on Health Care
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) today called on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to conduct a complete investigation into the hundreds of stock trades made by Congressman Tom Price, the president-elect’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Slaughter wrote the STOCK Act, one of the most important ethics bills in a generation, to ban insider trading and increase transparency for federal officials.
Washington, D.C. – The co-chairs of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY), condemned the plan by Republican members of Congress to defund Planned Parenthood as part of their reckless effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). House Speaker Paul Ryan confirmed today that a measure to defund Planned Parenthood will be included in the Republicans’ reconciliation package along with language for the ACA repeal.
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) today launched a campaign to hear directly from her constituents about how the Affordable Care Act has benefitted them as Republican leaders prepare to repeal this landmark law in the 115th Congress. Slaughter brought the Affordable Care Act to the floor of the House of Representatives in 2009 as Chairwoman of the Rules Committee. This law has expanded and improved health care for millions of Americans in the years since, with our nation’s uninsured rate now at its lowest level in more than 50 years.
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) announced today that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has chosen the site at Market Place Center on Calkins Road as the location for the new veterans health facility in Rochester. Slaughter secured the funding for the new facility and has worked with the VA for years to ensure construction of this vital project. It is the next key step in her long battle to provide necessary care to veterans in the Rochester area. The VA’s decision will allow construction to begin on the new facility.
WASHINGTON, DC — Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), and Frank Pallone (D-NJ) today hailed the Obama Administration’s final rule barring states from withholding federal family planning funds in a discriminatory manner from clinics that provide women’s reproductive health services. They noted that the rule issued today will shore up efforts across the country to safeguard women’s access to services protected under Title X, which have been in place for more than 25 years.
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter (NY-25), the only microbiologist in Congress, released this statement following reports that President-elect Donald Trump is considering venture capitalist Jim O’Neill to head the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has broad regulatory authority that impacts everything from vaccines to medical devices and tobacco products to prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Reps. Louise Slaughter (NY-25) and Diana DeGette (CO-01), co-chairs of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, called on congressional leaders to disband the Select Panel ahead of a vote expected Thursday on a privileged resolution that would provide an additional $800,000 in taxpayer dollars for the panel, which has aggressively targeted women’s health providers and the scientific community. House Republicans are now on course to spend more than $1.5 million funding this partisan attack on women’s health.
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter (NY-25) today introduced Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ahead of his speech during the University of Rochester’s Meliora Weekend. Rep. Slaughter, the only microbiologist in Congress, invited Dr. Collins to Rochester. Below are her remarks, as prepared for delivery:
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) pushed the Department of Defense (DoD) to take immediate action to better protect men and women in the military from exposure to blast overpressure, the leading cause of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). TBI is the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan where millions of Americans have been deployed.
WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) announced today that the Mt. Hope Family Center has received a five-year $1.9 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to provide trauma treatment services for children and families exposed to a wide array of stress and trauma and to promote policies that support trauma-informed care. The Mt. Hope Family Center is the only member and Category III provider for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network in New York State outside the New York City area.