Health Care

As Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Congressman Pallone believes that all Americans should have access to high-quality, affordable healthcare and advocates for legislation that will help achieve these goals.

The Affordable Care Act was a major step towards expanding coverage, lowering healthcare costs and protecting patients from insurance company abuses. He continues to be its ardent defender in the face of numerous Congressional “repeal and replace” attempts.

In addition, Congressman Pallone uses his leadership role on the Committee to protect the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, bring drugs to market faster, make our food system safer, and support work that will advance public health. He is particularly passionate about efforts to improve health outcomes for children, women, and the underserved.

Affordable Care Act

As the Chairman of the Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee during the 111th Congress, Congressman Pallone played a key role in writing the health reform bill and helping to guide it through the House and eventually into law. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act makes significant investments in the health of our nation while controlling costs.

The law includes critical consumer protections and ends the control of insurance companies over consumers. Insurance companies are not allowed to drop coverage when people get sick and cannot impose lifetime caps on coverage.  It stops unjustified premium hikes by insurance companies and ensures that no one with pre-existing conditions will be denied coverage. It makes it easier to access preventive care, by eliminating co-pays for many preventative services. Young adults may now stay on their parents’ health coverage through 26. 

Community Health Centers

Community Health Centers provide vital health services to the local community, particularly to those who may not access health care otherwise. In New Jersey, there are 24 federally-funded Health Center organizations that served 561,965 patients and provided over 2 million patient visits in 2018.

Congressman Pallone is proud to support community health centers so they may grow and expand. According to the National Association of Community Health Centers, community health centers in Congressman Pallone’s district leveraged $7,245,311 in federal investments and served approximately 63,135 patients in 2016.

FDA User Fee Reauthorization

Congressman Pallone introduced bipartisan legislation in 2017 to provide the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with additional resources through fees on pharmecutical companies to upgrade the safety review of prescription drugs.

The bill, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, reauthorizes the drug and medical device user fee programs, which will ensure that FDA gives patients access to therapies at the earliest possible time. It also includes a generic drug and biosimilar user fee agreements which will speed the delivery of low-cost generic drugs to patients.

The law will also enable FDA to better incorporate the patient perspective in the regulatory process, advance regulatory science and support the modernization of the clinical trial and review process.

Lowering Prescription Drug Costs

Congressman Pallone knows that lower prescription drug costs are a top priority for many Americans. That's why he led the House passage of H.R.3, the Lower Prescription Drug Costs Now Act, which empowers the federal government to negotiate directly with drug companies on 250 of the most expensive drugs and makes those prices.  

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office anticipates that H.R. 3 will save the federal government about $500 billion over ten years. H.R. 3 reinvests those savings back into the American people by creating the most transformational improvement to Medicare since its creation – delivering vision, dental and hearing benefits – and turbocharging the search for new cures and treatments.