Healthcare

Expanding access to affordable, quality health care without putting bureaucrats between patients and doctors has been one of my top priorities in Congress. I speak with constituents frequently who are struggling to afford health care in Kentucky and have been forced to purchase low quality, high-cost insurance that their doctor may not even accept.

That is why I have:

• Signed letter to House leadership in support of robust funding for Community Health Centers in FY25 Appropriations.
• Continued to advocate for CAROL Act funding in the appropriations process, ensuring valvular heart disease research is funded and expanded across the nation.
• Supported the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center’s successful effort to become the first and only NCI Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the state of Kentucky.
• Sponsored legislation that expedites the processes for health care practitioners to volunteer at health centers during declared emergencies.
• Cosponsored legislation that fixes the Medicare physician fee schedule, preventing further cuts to physicians pay by tying the schedule to the Medicare Economic Index.
• Supported legislation that would expedite the coverage determination process for FDA-approved breakthrough devices, ensuring that seniors have access to the most innovative and cutting-edge treatments.
• Supported multiple reauthorization efforts that fund Alzheimer’s research, care, and education in critical U.S. agencies.
• Cosponsored legislation that promotes student access to defibrillators in elementary and secondary schools.
• Backed legislation that prohibits insurance carriers from discriminating against living organ donors.
• Cosponsored a bill that would create protections for emergency department workers, making it a felony to assault them.
• Supported legislation that provides for coverage of microarray analysis, DNA and RNA sequencing, whole-exome sequencing, and other next-generation sequencing for individuals diagnosed with cancer.
• Cosponsored a bill that would ensure former coal miners with black lung disease can begin receiving payments immediately after their application is approved.
• Supported legislation that would establish an appropriate national minimum for the Medicare Area Wage Index to ensure that rural hospitals receive fair payment for the care they provide.
• Continued to support medical research funding through the NIH, which offer researchers a vital opportunity to perform pioneering research that will ultimately cure some of the most deadly and serious diseases impacting human health, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease