Health Care

 

Mike is intent on ending the troubling disparities in access to care and health outcomes between insured and uninsured Americans as Congress continues working to reform our nation's health care system.

Mike strongly supports a public insurance option and is fighting for its inclusion in the final package. He has joined fellow members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus in expressing his unwavering support for a public plan to President Obama and to the Democratic leadership of the House.

For Mike, health care reform must achieve universal access and it must not adversely impact residents and health care providers in Massachusetts.

Mike has long fought to make high quality, affordable insurance available to all.  

  • He co-founded the bi-partisan House Caucus on Community Health Centers, with another urban Democrat and two rural Republican colleagues from Texas and Florida. Like Senator Kennedy, he recognizes that concern for health can transcend partisan bickering.
  • To ensure that insurance truly translates into access, he has been working to expand the Community Health Center program.
  • The newly insured will need a "medical home" for primary care, and community health centers provide cost-effective quality care. The bills pending in the House significantly expand health centers nationwide.
  • Since founding the Caucus, Mike has fought for additional funding. When the Bush Administration made significant expansion of CHCs a priority, Mike became a leading champion of this bipartisan effort. Over the last decade, enrollment in health centers has more than doubled, going from serving approximately 9.5 million patients nationwide in 2000 to almost 20 million today.

Mike has worked tirelessly to help Massachusetts retain its preeminence in health care education and innovation during his six terms in Congress. Our medical schools and teaching hospitals provide world-class health care, create thousands of high quality jobs and sustain growth industries such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Mike recognizes that these institutions are also an important part of the Commonwealth's safety net. Boston's internationally acclaimed Children's Hospital is the number one provider of care to low-income children on Medicaid in Massachusetts, yet before Mike Capuano came to its aid, federal funds were not available for Graduate Medical Education in pediatrics. GME is funded through the Medicare program, so hospitals not serving patients within the Medicare population were ineligible. Mike urged Boston Children's to unite with pediatric hospitals nationwide to secure support for their interns and residents.  With his help, they succeeded.

Health care is a major economic engine in the state, providing close to 70,000 hospital jobs and tens of thousands more in clinics, nursing homes, laboratories and related industries. Efforts continue on Capitol Hill to increase health spending in rural areas at the expense of urban areas. Under federal rules, virtually all of Massachusetts is classified as non-rural so this change could have severe repercussions across our state. While Mike firmly supports equitable access to health care, he is deeply concerned about the potential loss of over a billion dollars to one of the Commonwealth's top industries and employers. As the debate continues over health care, Mike is working hard to address these issues and fighting to ensure that the final package includes a robust public option.

Mike remains concerned about discrimination based on health status and disparities in access to care. He has:

  • Co-sponsored the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act.
  • Championed the Boston Public Health Commission's REACH initiative, which uses federal seed money to mobilize community health education and empowerment and increase diagnostic screenings in underserved neighborhoods.
  • Fought successfully to restore funding for Boston Steps, part of the federal government's Steps to Healthier US initiative which provided funding to Boston for chronic disease control and prevention, particularly in areas where persistent health disparities exist.
  • Led recent congressional efforts to increase funding for the Ryan White program, an initiative of Ted Kennedy that is dedicated to ensuring care for those living with HIV and AIDS. Mike has worked with local and state agencies and community leaders during the program's previous and current reauthorization to ensure that Massachusetts continues to receive necessary resources.
  • Led the effort to ensure that a number of Boston institutions, such as Boston Medical Center, would continue serving as federally funded HIV-AIDS clinical research sites investigating new treatments. Maintaining these sites in the community was vital to ensuring that diverse groups of patients have access to the latest treatments.

To learn more about where Mike stands, we encourage you to attend an event, listen to one of Mike's podcasts, or watch one of Mike's videos.