Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) today spoke out about how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has blocked progress on House-passed legislation to improve health care coverage and decrease health care costs.
“Mitch McConnell refuses to let the Senate vote on dozens of pieces of legislation that have passed the House of Representatives, including major health care legislation that could lower costs and improve coverage for millions of people in Nevada and around the country. It’s long past time for Senator McConnell to let the Senate do its job to expand coverage and decrease costs for essential health care benefits.”
Throughout the month of January, Senator Cortez Masto will highlight critical bipartisan legislation languishing in Leader McConnell’s legislative graveyard. Senator Cortez Masto is urging the Republican Leader to get back to work for the American people and end his obstruction of legislation that would help working families.
BACKGROUND:
Senate Majority Leader McConnell has refused to let the Senate take action on hundreds of pieces of legislation to improve Americans’ lives, including to reduce health care costs and increase coverage. The following bills have been passed by the House of Representatives, but have not been taken up by the full Senate:
- The Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act: This legislation prevents the Trump Administration from promoting “junk” health care plans that lack protections for people with pre-existing conditions and would increase costs for millions of Americans;
- The Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act: This legislation lowers drug prices for seniors by capping out-of-pocket costs and empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices;
- The MORE Health Education Act: This legislation would improve outreach on health care plan enrollment options.
There are also bills that were introduced in the Senate with bipartisan support but have not been taken up by Leader McConnell. These include:
- The Improving HOPE for Alzheimer’s Act: This legislation would require the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct outreach to make more health care providers aware of a new Medicare Alzheimer’s care planning benefit and to report back on rates of utilization and barriers to access;
- The Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act: This legislation would lower prescription drug costs under Medicare and Medicaid, improve transparency related to drug prices, and lower patients’ out-of-pocket costs.
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