Health Care Archives - Congresswoman Cheri Bustos

Making Health Care More Accessible and Affordable

Health care is a deeply personal issue to me.

My sister-in-law, Barb, died several years ago without health insurance. Barb and her husband both worked full-time, but they couldn’t afford health insurance and when she got sick, she couldn’t afford the most effective cancer treatment she needed to survive.

Even those who can afford insurance are not immune to the extremely high costs of operations and prescription medications. A few months after my sister-in-law passed away, my brother Danny died, leaving behind a wife and two daughters. His insurance would not cover his cancer treatment because an experimental drug was required. I support legislation that will help make quality health care more affordable so no families have to go through the suffering my family did.

Another major issue across our nation is the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Since the ACA has been implemented, we’ve seen significant improvements in health care delivery. Whether it’s providing free preventative care, expanding Medicaid coverage to hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans, eliminating pre-existing condition discrimination, ending lifetime limits on care or allowing young adults to stay on their parents plan until age 26, by just about every metric, the ACA has been a success.

However, there are always ways that we can build upon these successes and make improvements to reduce health care costs and improve accessibility.

More on Health Care

Press Release

September 10, 2019

BUSTOS STATEMENT ON CENSUS HEALTH CARE REPORT

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17) released the following statement after the Census Bureau released a report finding that the number of uninsured Americans increased by nearly 2 million in 2018, the first increase since the Affordable Care Act took full effect in 2014: “Instead of working with us to improve health care for […]

Press Release

September 9, 2019

BUSTOS COMPLETES ANNUAL 21ST CENTURY HEARTLAND TOUR

FLASHBACK: “…U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, has not slowed down” WASHINGTON – During the August District Work Period, Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17) visited all 14 counties in Illinois’ 17th Congressional District as part of her annual 21st Century Heartland Tour. She traveled more than 2,000 miles to visit with Illinoisans about the issues important to rural […]

Press Release

August 22, 2019

BUSTOS ANNOUNCES NEARLY $400,000 IN GRANTS FOR LOCAL HEALTH CENTERS

MOLINE – Today, Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17) – a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee – announced that health centers across the district will receive $391,626 in federal funding. These federal grants were awarded through the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Health Center Cluster Program that helps community-based health care organizations provide primary […]

Press Release

August 13, 2019

BUSTOS ANNOUNCES MORE THAN $650,000 IN GRANTS FOR LOCAL HEALTH CENTERS

MOLINE – Today, Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17) – a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee – announced that health centers across the district will receive $668,000 in total grant funding to combat the opioid crisis. These federal dollars were awarded through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Integrated Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) program […]