Healthcare

I am committed to preserving hard-fought for reforms to our health system.

Affordable Medications

As the Chair and Founder of the House Affordable Prescription Drug Task Force, I am committed to bringing more oversight and transparency to drug pricing and supporting legislative and administrative solutions so that more families can afford the medicine they need.

High drug prices are not a problem with one pharmaceutical manufacturer, one class of drugs, or one disease—this problem is widespread. While we have made advances in research and treatment, an unaffordable drug is 100 percent ineffective. Drugs developed with public funding should be available -- and affordable -- to the public. The President has the authority to ensure taxpayer-funded drugs are affordable by authorizing generic competition that would lower prices. I am also sponsoring multiple pieces of legislation that would allow Medicare to use its purchasing power to lower drug costs for seniors and taxpayers through negotiation, fight anti-competitive pay-for-delay deals, and promote transparency throughout the drug development and pricing process.

Protecting the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid

I remain committed to preserving the hard-fought reforms that provided health insurance to millions through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), resisting those who seek to repeal, defund, or sabotage the ACA. I voted against dozens of Republican repeal efforts because it would remove protections for people with pre-existing conditions; bring back lifetime and annual caps on care; allow states to remove essential health benefits -- like maternity care and mental health services; and take almost a trillion dollars out of Medicaid. Most every health care professional group came out to condemn this travesty – I stood with the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, and families around our Nation in opposition to these cruel efforts.

Due to the objection of State Republican leaders, Texas is one of a handful of states that has not enjoyed the full benefit of the ACA. Up to two million vulnerable Texans remain uninsured and have no health coverage options whatsoever because the state has not expanded Medicaid. I authored the COVER Now Act, a homegrown remedy to allow local governments to provide Medicaid to these individuals using the same federal taxpayer dollars state leaders have rejected. I also championed legislation to expand eligibility for free ACA Marketplace coverage to low-income families living in non-expansion states. 

Defending Reproductive Rights

As a member of the Congressional Reproductive Freedom Caucus, with a 100% pro-choice voting record, I oppose efforts to block access to comprehensive reproductive care and fully support measures that help protect women's health. The Republican-controlled activist Supreme Court outrageously overturned five decades of precedent protecting the right to privacy and choice. This injustice must become the fuel for greater engagement to ensure that health care choices are made only by consulting a doctor and loved ones, not politicians or unelected judges. Denying a right to choose—including in cases of rape, incest, or dangerous health risks, is unconscionable. Women in Texas face some of the most extreme barriers to accessing reproductive healthcare in the country.

I sponsored the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would restore the right to access abortion and make unlawful many of the types of politically motivated restrictions that take away a woman's ability to choose quality reproductive care. I also sponsored the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH Woman) Act, which protects access to reproductive care for public health insurance beneficiaries, federal employees, and in federal health services. I have consistently rejected Republicans' anti-choice amendments and riders on appropriation bills, have strongly opposed Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, and will continue to support efforts to improve access to reproductive services. I will continue working hard to protect a woman's right to make her own health care decisions.

Preserving and Strengthening Medicare

For several decades, Social Security and Medicare have been a lifesaving safety net for seniors and individuals with disabilities, protecting their physical and financial well-being, and providing well-earned peace of mind after a lifetime of work.

As a recent recipient of two national legislative awards from AARP, which recognized my efforts to ensure seniors' access to health care, I continue working to defend, strengthen, and improve Medicare, a pillar of retirement security. I authored the Medicare Dental, Vision, and Hearing Benefit Act to provide enrollees with comprehensive health coverage. I also authored the Close the Medigap Act to protect patients with pre-existing conditions seeking Medigap supplemental coverage. Finally, I authored the Stop the Wait Act to phase out the 5-month disability payment waiting period and the 2-year Medicare coverage wait for SSDI disability enrollees.

To ensure Medicare remains for future generations, I authored the Assuring Medicare’s Promise Act to close a corporate tax loophole and ensure the Medicare Trust Fund has sufficient revenue for years to come. I am also committed to addressing fraud, waste, and abuse to protect taxpayer dollars and Medicare’s finances. My Medicare Identity Theft Prevention Act, which requires the removal of Social Security numbers from Medicare cards, was enacted into law. With identity thieves becoming increasingly sophisticated, a little prevention can prevent a lot of heartache. Seniors who have worked a lifetime building their financial security deserve better protection. My Medicare Fraud Detection and Deterrence Act and Preventing Medicare Telefraud Act would enact narrow guardrails recommended by the nonpartisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and HHS Inspector General to prevent fraudulent lab test orders and durable medical equipment prescriptions. My legislation would also ensure providers already convicted of fraud can never bill Medicare again.

I am also working to rein in wasteful taxpayer overpayments to Medicare Advantage private insurers. Promoted as an option to save money, Medicare Advantage has cost more than Traditional Medicare coverage every year since its inception. In 2024, taxpayers wasted $83 billion in overpayments to these plans. Meanwhile, they often offer more disadvantage than advantage with aggressive care delays and denials and narrow networks that don’t guarantee coverage for your doctor. I continue to press the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to use its authority to stop these overpayments and improve delivery of benefits. I am also working on legislation to address many of these issues.

Separately, my AARP-endorsed bipartisan NOTICE Act was signed into law. NOTICE does just what its name suggests: it gives patients notice when they are about to be billed personally after being categorized as "under observation" in the hospital. Currently, a hospital may either admit a patient as an "inpatient" or keep the patient "under observation." While the distinction is often impossible to determine, particularly by the beneficiary, the cost can be extreme if expensive skilled nursing home care is required.

Social Security

Social Security isn't a Ponzi scheme or a handout. It is one of our most successful initiatives, a hard-earned benefit workers pay into every month to provide security for tens of millions of seniors and individuals with disabilities. In eight decades, Social Security has never been a day late or a dollar short. It has never contributed a dime to the deficit and has generated a $4.2 trillion surplus. With modest improvements to ensure its long-term solvency, Social Security will be there for our grandchildren.  I am using every opportunity to push back against Trump and Musk’s  “Department of Government Evisceration” that is firing thousands of Social Security workers.  These cruel cuts mean longer waits and poorer service. Meanwhile, House Republicans threaten the long-term stability of Social Security by adding trillions to our national debt so their corporate donors get more tax breaks.  We must continue to stand up against these attacks.