Social Security has proven to be a very successful program, keeping millions of Americans from suffering extreme poverty in their retirement.
Cuts to Medicare that were included in Obamacare, and the failure to enact long-term reform to Medicare’s physician payment system will be detrimental to seniors, as some doctors will find it too expensive to continue to provide care to Medicare patients.
I believe that there are common-sense approaches to addressing Medicare’s long-term financing challenges. We can start with reforms that target waste and fraud in the system.
I strongly support efforts to make prescription drugs more affordable and preserve beneficiary access for Medicare Part D.
Burdensome federal regulations are making access to our domestic energy sources more difficult and expensive. Higher energy prices means higher prices on food, gas, medicines, and the cost of housing, which is placing financial hardships on America’s seniors.
High health care costs and energy costs continue to take a bigger and bigger bite out of many folks' Social Security benefits.
I believe that because the number of retired workers is projected to double in less than 30 years as baby-boomers enter retirement age, it is vital that we take action to improve and strengthen health care for current and future retirees.
Action
Original cosponsor of Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act , which would repeal the inclusion of any Social Security or tier I railroad retirement benefits in gross income for income tax purposes.
Community pharmacists have been increasingly charged retroactive fees (DIR fees) after prescriptions are filled, which hurts, and sometimes destroys, their business. A majority of these pharmacists said they receive no information about when and why DIR fees will be collected, while many also noted that DIR fees can total thousands of dollars each month. In response to this, I introduced the Transparency and Fairness for Pharmacies Act, which takes steps to help rein in and bring more transparency to these DIR fees and all pharmacy fees by Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). It would require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to create standardized quality metrics for health plans and PBMs to use when determining payments to pharmacies. Over time, PBMs have been allowed to operate virtually unchecked, leading to abuse of pharmacy performance evaluations and lack of transparency in pharmacy payments. My bill seeks to end these practices.
An original cosponsor of the Prevent Interruptions in Physical Therapy Act. This bill would ensure that physical therapists have the flexibility to bring in another licensed physical therapist to receive payment under Medicare if there is a temporary absence by the regular attending physical therapist. This flexibility is important to prevent any gaps in care for Medicare patients in case their regular physical therapist gets sick or must take family leave to ensure patients still receive their care in a timely manner.
As Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I have held hearings to bring attention to issues seniors face when it comes to increasing access to lower cost health care and analyzing how to best lower the cost of medications without hindering innovation.
