Health Care

“Seven years ago, in March of 2010, the Affordable Care Act was signed into law after a two-year process of hundreds of committee meetings, exhaustive markups which I personally participated in, floor debate that went on for days, and back and forth between the House and Senate,” said Courtney during his floor speech. “The fact that this measure is going forward in committee tomorrow morning, with less than 24 hours for the American people to have even a glimpse of what is being proposed, and without an any analysis or a budgets score is just an abuse of the legislative and democratic process. We have seen an outpouring of Americans over the last two months at town hall meetings - I have had four of them - telling heartfelt stories about how the ACA helped them. Yes, we can improve the law and there are many ideas we can work together on and that is what we should be focused on – not butchering the law which this proposal seeks to do."

“These savings are providing critical relief to local seniors who previously had to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars out-of-pocket to obtain their prescription drugs,” said Courtney. “For many eastern Connecticut seniors on fixed annual incomes, the average savings of more than $1,808 per year can often mean the difference between purchasing medication or food, and being able to live with dignity in retirement. This data shows how the Affordable Care Act is working for eastern Connecticut’s seniors, and what is at risk as the debate over repealing law continues in the weeks ahead.”

“I am very pleased that the 21st Century Cures Act passed with a number of important wins for eastern Connecticut which I have been championing for several years,” said Courtney. “The final version of the Cures Act represents a strong bipartisan effort to address several major outstanding healthcare issues nationwide. I am pleased that a number of my top priorities such as funding to address opioid addiction, changes to tick-borne and Lyme disease research, and incentives for pediatric physicians were included. These provisions will make a real difference for people back home in eastern Connecticut. Since I first introduced a bill calling for emergency funding to address the opioid epidemic in February, support for federal action has been steadily increasing on both sides of the aisle. What this bill demonstrates is that Congress is finally ready to put its money where its mouth is and provide our communities with the support they need to turn the tide on drug addiction. Lyme disease, which is named after a town in my district, has long plagued eastern Connecticut and large swaths of our country. It is time that Congress makes addressing tick-borne diseases a national priority for our medical community. The provisions contained in the 21st Century Cures Act will accelerate the development of new protocols for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of tick-related illnesses like Lyme disease."

“Today, 78 people will likely die of a heroin or opioid overdose,” wrote the members. “This epidemic rages on across the United States, and local law enforcement and public health agencies are overwhelmed by need. It is our responsibility to provide them with the resources they desperately require to save lives and repair their communities. We continue to hear from leaders in law enforcement and in addiction recovery who say they are unable to provide assistance to needy residents because they lack the funds. As you complete work on the 21st Century Cures legislation, we write to encourage you to include immediate funding to combat heroin and opioid addiction and overdose in this package. Knowing that Cures will likely be one of the final pieces of legislation that Congress acts on this year, we hope you will consider this a final opportunity to take needed action to combat this crisis."