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Health Care

With 47 million uninsured Americans and health care spending accounting for 16% of our country’s GDP, there is no question that our health care system is broken. Senator Shaheen knows that middle class families across New Hampshire face bankruptcy due to medical debt, and an increasing number of small businesses can’t afford to offer their employees adequate coverage. Senator Shaheen is committed to working with her colleagues to provide access to coverage for all Americans, to improve the quality of health care available, and to contain health care costs. We can reduce health care costs by transitioning to electronic medical records, focusing on preventive care, and improving chronic disease management.

Senator Shaheen was honored to attend the President’s Health Care Summit in March 2009, and she will continue to make sure New Hampshire’s interests are represented during the upcoming health care reform deliberations. Senator Shaheen is committed to making our health care system for everyone in New Hampshire, and that’s why she joined the Senate Rural Health Care Caucus early in the 111th Congress and supported legislation that significantly increased funding for community health clinics.

Coverage for Children

Providing children access to doctors and medicine is absolutely critical to a good start in life. Senator Shaheen has long been committed to fighting for children’s access to quality health care. As Governor, she launched New Hampshire’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provided affordable health and dental coverage to tens of thousands of New Hampshire children. In the Senate, she helped pass a major expansion of the children’s health insurance program, known as CHIP, early in the 111th Congress that expands eligibility to cover an additional 9,300 children in New Hampshire. This was an important step forward for health care for children, and Senator Shaheen will continue working to expand children’s health coverage.

Prescription Drugs

Senator Shaheen is not afraid to stand up to the big drug companies. Throughout her career, she has initiated programs to lower prescription drug costs for consumers and the government. As Governor of New Hampshire, she initiated a Senior Prescription Drug program to provide relief for seniors struggling with the high cost of prescription drugs. Senator Shaheen understands the consumer benefit to getting generic drugs to the marketplace through faster and easier channels and is working with her colleagues to improve access to generic drugs, which is why she has cosponsored legislation that will create a pathway for FDA approval of biogeneric drugs. She has also cosponsored legislation to allow for the importation of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries.

Stem Cell

Stem cell research is critical to the scientific understanding of diseases, therapies and cures that impact millions of Americans. Embryonic stem cell research could lead to treatments for diseases that afflict up to 100 million Americans, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, spinal cord injuries, and other debilitating conditions. Senator Shaheen has cosponsored important legislation to strengthen stem cell research, and she celebrated President Obama’s executive order overturning the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

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