Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) says she doesn’t let being a breast cancer survivor define her. But she is determined to use her platform to urge other young women to pay attention to their breast health.
That’s why, when she made her battle public in 2009, she crossed party lines to launch the Congressional Women’s Softball Game (CWSG) with then-Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.).
“We started the game in order to be able to raise awareness for our very young w...
Senate
Khanna, Sanders to call for action aimed at easing burden of medical debt
Two top congressional progressives are joining forces with leading health care activists to pressure Washington officials to help ease the burden of patients’ medical debt and predatory practices.
The upcoming “Freedom From Medical Debt” initiative, led by Our Revolution, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and first reported by The Hill, is intended to push Democrats from the White House to Congress to address what liberals see as one of the most pressin...
The Hill’s Morning Report — Pentagon faces big question: How did this happen?
Editor’s note: The Hill’s Morning Report is our daily newsletter that dives deep into Washington’s agenda. To subscribe, click here or fill out the box below.
CloseThank you for signing up!
Subscribe to more newsletters here
The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Morning Report newsletter ...
Top Democrats ask health insurers for response to ObamaCare preventive care ruling
Democrats on key House and Senate health committees have requested information from a dozen major health insurance companies and trade groups on how they plan to respond to the ruling from Texas that struck down the preventive services provision in the Affordable Care Act.
The lawmakers sent out letters to major insurance providers including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealth Group. The letters asked whether consumers would experience interruptions in their c...
Biden, divided Congress seek common ground on health care reforms
President Biden's budget proposal includes ambitious measures seeking to bring down health care costs, but the divided government poses a steep challenge to these proposals, and lawmakers have yet to indicate where they're willing to come together.
Biden's budget proposes increasing discretionary funding for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by $14.8 billion over 2023, raising taxes on people making more than $400,000 a year to keep Medicaid solvent, making Obama...
Biden launches battle on Capitol Hill with call for Medicare tax hike
President Biden fired the opening shots of the battle over spending and taxes that will consume Capitol Hill this year when he proposed on Tuesday a 5 percent Medicare surtax on people who earn more than $400,000 a year.
The White House is hailing the proposal, which is part of Biden’s budget plan, as something that will extend Medicare’s solvency by 25 years, but Republicans are slamming it as a “massive" tax hike and key Democrats are ducking for cover, declining to s...
Sanders: Medicare-for-all ‘ain’t going to happen’ in divided Congress
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said "Medicare for All," a system that would establish government-run health care for all U.S. citizens, “ain’t going to happen” during the next two years amid a divided Congress.
Sanders told NPR in an interview broadcast Tuesday that members of Congress can still work together during this congressional session to improve health care throughout the country, even though he said no Republicans and only half of congressional Democrats support Medicar...
CBO warns of sharp uptick in Social Security, Medicare spending
Federal spending on Social Security and Medicare is projected to rise dramatically over the next decade, far outpacing revenues and the economy on the whole while putting new pressure on Congress to address accelerated threats of insolvency, according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The increase is driven by a variety of factors, including Social Security’s new cost-of-living adjustment, the rising cost of medical services under Medicare and great...
Sanders to seek gavel of Senate health committee
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is pursuing the top spot on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, his spokesman said Thursday, now that Democrats are poised to maintain control of the Senate.
As leader of the committee with jurisdiction over much of federal health policy, Sanders will have a platform to champion his progressive causes, including his "Medicare for All" proposal.
"As chairman of the committee, he will focus on universal health...
Democrats brace for life with a House GOP majority
Senate Democrats are bracing for the possibility for life under a divided government, with President Biden in office and a strong possibility of a Republican-controlled House.
Democrats hope they can retain their majority in the Senate, where a number of political handicappers say the party is favored. That would give Democrats more leverage and congressional support for Biden over the next two years.
But if the House does fall as expected, lawmakers expect partisan gr...