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As the 10-year mark of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) passage approaches, Republican Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman is introducing legislation to increase access to health care and give states more freedom within the framework of the ACA Monday night.
Republicans had to surrender their hopes of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act when they lost the House in 2018. Westerman said his wide-ranging "Fair Care Act" leans into the "free market" aspects of the ACA exchanges.
A new, 200-page healthcare proposal by a GOP House lawmaker goes after hospital consolidation and pricing as part of a sweeping attempt to cut costs and increase coverage.
The legislation from Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), who has been working on it for more than a year and a half even though he doesn't sit on any House health committee, signals the mounting unrest among individual members of Congress over high healthcare costs. This is feeding into the momentum from both sides to address hospital consolidation.
On February 25, U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) introduced the Fair Care Act, a bill that significantly overhauls the U.S. health care system by increasing the number of Americans with health insurance coverage while reducing premium costs. Westerman issued the following statement:
On February 20, U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Arkansas state director David Branscum and South Arkansas Telephone director Mark Lundy hosted a rural broadband panel discussion highlighting the recent USDA RUS grant that South Arkansas Telecom received, and focusing on practical steps to widen the reach of future rural broadband services. Westerman issued the following quote in response:
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) joined U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) and 63 other members of Congress in sending a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, supporting the proposed rule to enforce work requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) released the following statement in response to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019:
"In the words of Yogi Berra, this is déjà vu all over again: another massive spending bill with limited time to read it. Conference committee members had just one hour to review the provisions, the bill was filed after 1:00 this morning, and members are expected to comb through almost 1,200 pages of text in time for a vote at 9:00 tonight.
The Fair Care Act: H.R. 1332
Section-by-Section Summary
TITLE I: Private Sector Health Insurance Reforms
Subtitle A—Commercial Health Insurance Provisions
Section 101. Invisible High-Risk Pool Reinsurance Program
Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) released the following statement in response to President Donald Trump's State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress:
This week, the Arkansas delegation sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, voicing support of the provisions in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service's (CMS) recently proposed rule, Modernizing Part D and Medicare Advantage to Lower Drug Prices and Reduce Out-of-Pocket Expenses, that would reform the use of pharmacy direct and indirect remuneration (DIR) fees, or pharmacy price concessions, in the Medicare Part D program. Delegation members issued the following statements in response:
Today, House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Rob Bishop (R-Utah) welcomed U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) to serve on the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources and the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Federal Lands. Westerman issued the following statement in response: