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Congresswoman Angie Craig Delivers on Expanding Access to High-Quality Health Care for More Minnesotans

August 6, 2020

U.S. Rep. Angie Craig secured several key provisions to expand access to affordable, high-quality healthcare in the House appropriations package that passed last week.

Rep. Craig successfully pushed to include:

  • A study on the devastating health impacts of high insulin costs
  • Measures to encourage the use of cost-saving biosimilars in Medicare
  • $5 billion in additional emergency funding for the National Institutes of Health to address COVID-19
  • Increased funding for school-based health centers
  • $2.4 billion for the Ryan White HIV/Aids program

"Every Minnesotan has a right to high-quality, affordable healthcare," said Rep. Craig. "I believe that we must address the skyrocketing prescription drug costs that are putting necessary and lifesaving medications out of reach for too many families. I'm proud that this package includes my request to study insulin affordability and the effect it has on the health of Americans with diabetes. I'll continue work with anyone in Congress to deliver results that move us toward more affordable and accessible care."

Rep. Craig has authored or cosponsored over 100 bills aimed to provide quality health care to more Americans, here's a more complete look:

Expand Access to Quality Care and Health Insurance Access

  • Authored the bipartisan State Health Care Premium Reduction Act which would lower health insurance premiums for people in the individual market by 8%. This bill, as amended, passed the House on June 29th.
  • Authored the Stop Health Premium Spikes Act, which would help mitigate the drastic health care premium increases expected as a result of the unanticipated surge in medical care costs due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Experts project these increases could be anywhere between 4% to 40%.
  • Cosponsored the Medicare-X Choice Act of 2019, which would establish an affordable, public health plan to make affordable health care a reality.

Lower Out-of-Pocket Costs, Including Prescription Drug Prices

  • Introduced the bipartisan Insulin Data Collection Act, which would finally collect data needed to fully understand the effects of the insulin affordability crisis.
  • Introduced the Emergency Access to Insulin Act, which would provide states with federal grants to set up short-term emergency insulin supplies for uninsured and underinsured patients, help patients find affordable insulin options long-term and penalize big pharmaceutical companies for excessive price increases.
  • Helped introduce the Price Relief, Innovation, and Competition for Essential Drugs(PRICED) Act, which would shorten the market exclusivity period for biologic drugs from 12 years to five years.
  • Additionally, she has cosponsored several pieces of legislation aimed to further drive down the skyrocketing piece of prescription drugs.