Health Care

Courtney and the full Connecticut Delegation sent a letter urging Hartford Healthcare CEO Elliot Joseph and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Connecticut President and General Manager Jill Hummel to reach an agreement and resolve the contract dispute as soon as possible. The dispute has threatened access to affordable health care services for roughly 60,000 Connecticut residents.

In remarks on the House floor today, Congressman Courtney highlighted the broad opposition to the Graham-Cassidy bill being brought to a vote this week in the Senate. As Courtney noted in his remarks, nearly every major health advocacy, provider and real-world practitioner group has rejected the measure.

“The rising tide of prescription opioid and heroin addiction continues to harm our communities,” said Courtney. “We need all hands on deck response to deal with this epidemic, and this federal funding will go a long way in helping these local treatment programs to fight back against this vexing epidemic of drug addiction. Starting with youth education is one of the best ways to ensure the next generation understands the dangers associated with narcotic drug use and remain drug-free. I know that these programs will put this funding to good use.”

“I applaud the effort of the two community health centers to obtain these critical resources to combat opioid addiction in eastern Connecticut,” said Courtney. “We have to be diligent about pursuing similar grant opportunism in the future that may be available to fight back against rising drug abuse.”

Rep. Courtney joined Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21), David Young (R-IA-03), and Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ-01) in introducing the Community Health Investment, Modernization and Excellence (CHIME) Act of 2017 – bipartisan legislation to extend the Community Health Centers Fund (CHCF) for five years, with modest increases to ensure responsiveness to demand for care and national priority areas.

Congressman Courtney said, “With the demise of “repeal” which was structured from day 1 as a hyper partisan Republican exercise, it is time Congress listens to what the American people have been saying loud and clear for several years. We need to work together to fix the weaknesses in the ACA rather than butcher it. The Medicare Buy In and Health Care Stabilization Act provides relief for the higher cost, older population in the individual and small business market, and restores the market stabilizers that Republicans have undermined and caused insurance premiums to spike in 2017 and 2018. Lastly, the bill provides exciting new ways to reduce health care spending by cracking down on fraud and instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to employ tried and true tools to cut costs in the area of prescription drugs. This bill not only does not add to the deficit, but it will, in fact, save money for America’s taxpayers.”