Health

Harnessing the Future of Medicine

| Posted in In the News

Medicine is changing rapidly. Innovations in precision medicine, immunotherapy, population health and genomics are dramatically transforming the outlook for hundreds of heartbreaking conditions — including Alzheimer’s. But to harness the full potential of these advances, Congress must be forward-looking in protecting and strengthening the life-saving medical research underway in labs…

DelBene Calls for Bipartisan Approach to Tax Reform

| Posted in Press Releases

BOTHELL – Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today reiterated the need for a bipartisan approach to comprehensive tax reform while Speaker Paul Ryan visited the Boeing Co. in Everett: “We have a once in a generation opportunity to modernize our tax code, if Republicans include Democrats in the legislative process. There is no question that our tax laws are in desperate need of…

Washington lawmakers tackling opioid shipping loophole

| Posted in In the News
Tags: Health

Gregory L. Smith of Seattle was charged Monday with importing fentanyl from China. Fentanyl is an opioid 50-times stronger and more deadly than heroin. According to documents filed in U.S. District Court, some of the 24 packages shipped to Smith were labelled "toy", "commercial samples" or "health products." The packages included no reference at all to the deadly opioid…

Editorial: Facing 37 opioid overdoses in one week

| Posted in In the News
Tags: Health

It’s a chilling snapshot. A week’s worth of data that is both frightening and illuminating. Working with hospital emergency rooms, fire and police departments, ambulance services, a needle exchange program and other sources, the Snohomish Health District collected reports on the number of heroin- and other opioid-related overdoses in the county from July 17 to 23. During that…

DelBene Introduces Birth Control Privacy Act to Protect Female Workers

| Posted in In the News
Tags: Health

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) has reintroduced the Birth Control Privacy Act to ensure women’s personal medical decisions about contraception are not disclosed to their employers – preventing serious exposures of personal health data and protecting the financial security of millions of women and their families. “If a woman stops filling her prescription for birth control, her boss…

DelBene Introduces Bill to Protect Womens Privacy at Work

| Posted in Press Releases
Tags: Health

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today reintroduced the Birth Control Privacy Act (H.R. 3443) to ensure women’s personal medical decisions about contraception are not disclosed to their employers — preventing serious exposures of personal health data and protecting the financial security of millions of women and their families. “If a woman stops filling her…

DelBene, Walorski Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Improve Access to Air Ambulance Services

| Posted in Press Releases

Reps. Suzan DelBene (WA-01) and Jackie Walorski (IN-02) introduced bipartisan legislation to improve access to emergency air medical services that are critical to providing emergency medical care and saving lives in rural communities. The Ensuring Access to Air Ambulance Services Act (H.R. 3378) would update Medicare reimbursement rates for air ambulance service providers based on the…

House Passes DelBene Bill Expanding Access to Home Dialysis

| Posted in Press Releases
Tags: Health

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today welcomed House passage of her bipartisan bill (H.R. 3164), which was included in the Medicare Part B Improvement Act. DelBene introduced H.R. 3164 with Reps. Diane Black (R-TN-06), Patrick Meehan (R-PA-07) and Mike Thompson (D-CA-05) to expand access to home dialysis therapy under the Medicare program for patients with end stage renal disease…

Uber and the gig economy used to love Obamacare. What happened?

| Posted in In the News

The Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare is, for now, mothballed, in no small part because of Democratic resistance, fierce opposition from industry groups, and, above all else, GOP disarray. What didn’t help doom the effort: an enormous U.S. industry that repeatedly joined President Obama to promote the Affordable Care Act. Uber, Lyft, and a long list of other…

The Senate health care plan is a disaster for gig economy workers

| Posted in In the News

The gig economy owes a lot to Obamacare. In the wake of the financial crisis, as smartphones were just becoming the norm, millions of Americans were out of work. Then, Uber hit the market one year before Obamacare was passed, and suddenly, the “gig economy” seemed feasible. Startups could launch without providing costly healthcare, and their workers—excuse me,…