Health

Kidney Caucus Welcomes HHS Decision to Improve Organ Procurement Performance and Save Lives

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Tags: Health

Congressional Kidney Caucus Co-Chairs, Representatives Suzan DelBene (WA-01) and Larry Bucshon (IN-08), released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule that will increase the number of organ transplants performed each year by holding Organ Procurement Organizations to a higher standard. “As Co-Chairs of the Congressional…

DelBene, Marshall, Bucshon, and O’Halleran Applaud CMS for Securing Medicare Payments on Innovative Cancer Therapies

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Representatives Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Roger Marshall (KS-01), Larry Bucshon (IN-08), and Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01) issued the following statement after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule that secures access to groundbreaking cancer treatment. “CMS’ final rule will now fully cover CAR T-cell therapy providing lifesaving access to innovative cancer…

DelBene, Walorski, Sewell, Bilirakis, Marshall Support CMS Proposal to Increase Access to Breakthrough Cures

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Today, Representatives Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Jackie Walorski (IN-02), Terri Sewell (AL-07), Gus Bilirakis (FL-12), and Roger Marshall (KS-01) released the following statement after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) announced a proposed rule to streamline Medicare coverage for cutting-edge medical innovations. “We are pleased to see CMS’s proposal to help increase…

DelBene, Welch, LaHood Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Incentivize Value-Based Health Care

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Tags: Health

Today, Representatives Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Peter Welch (VT-At-large), and Darin LaHood (IL-18) introduced the Value in Health Care Act, a bipartisan bill that will make commonsense changes to the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015. The bill specifically amends many of the program parameters of Medicare’s Alternative Payment Models (APMs). The changes will…

DelBene, Upton Launch Medical Technology Caucus

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Today, Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) and Congressman Fred Upton (MI-06) announced the launch of the Congressional Medical Technology (MedTech) Caucus, a bipartisan effort to educate Congress on and bring awareness to policies impacting innovative medical technology and patients who depend on it. Medical devices and breakthrough technologies improve the lives of millions of…

Bill to Protect ACA from Trump Assaults and Combat Skyrocketing Drug Prices Clears House

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Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Enhancement Act (H.R. 1425), legislation that will build on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to lower health costs and prescription drug prices. This vote comes days after the Trump administration again asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the entirety of the ACA. “The Affordable Care Act has…

DelBene Responds to Trump’s Call to Slow Down COVID-19 Testing

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Tags: Health

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) released the following statement in response to President Trump’s call to slow down COVID-19 testing. “The assertion by the president, joking or not, that the United States should slow down COVID-19 testing is all but an admission that he and his administration have failed to adequately respond to this pandemic. After dealing with this virus for nearly…

Legislation to Modernize Seniors' Health Care Secures Support from Bipartisan Majority of House

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A bipartisan majority of the U.S. House of Representatives now supports the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2019 (H.R. 3107), introduced by Representatives Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Mike Kelly (PA-16), Roger Marshall, M.D. (KS-01), and Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-07). The bill would streamline and standardize prior authorization in Medicare Advantage (MA) and make the use of prior…

DelBene Congratulates UW Medicine for Addressing Racial Bias in Kidney Care, Medical Students Who Pushed for Change

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Tags: Health

The following statement can be attributed to Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01). “As Co-Chair of the Congressional Kidney Caucus, I welcome the announcement UW Medicine is leading the medical community in addressing racial bias in our health care system by no longer using race as a correction factor when determining kidney function. The race-based correction factor, which has no…

DelBene Statement on Trump Administration’s Testing Strategy to Shift Blame Away from Itself

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Tags: Health

Representative Suzan DelBene (WA-01) released the following statement today after the Trump administration submitted a report to Congress outlining its national testing strategy: “Over 1,000 lives have been lost in Washington state from this pandemic. People in my district and across our state have been responding to this crisis the longest and they deserve leadership from the federal…