With U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley
Q: What is the “21st Century Cures Act?”
A: As Americans we are blessed to live in a free society that bestows inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to its citizenry. For me, it is an honor to represent Iowans in the United States Senate and I take seriously the incredible responsibility to make sure that our government works for the people, not the other way around. Throughout my years of public service, I have made it a priority to listen to Iowans so that I have the benefit of your views when crafting public policy for public benefit. I very much appreciate when Iowans take the time to participate in representative government to influence and shape decisions that will impact their lives and livelihoods. An issue that generates overwhelming participation and strong opinion among Iowans from all walks of life is advocacy for medical treatments and cures for chronic and terminal illnesses, debilitating diseases and mental and behavioral health issues that impact the daily lives of loved ones. From cancer, to diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and so many other chronic medical conditions and rare diseases, profound support exists to foster more innovation in health care and medical science to help spread hope, healing and health for our fellow Americans. As a fiscal conservative and champion for good government, I work to make sure the federal spigot doesn’t shower limited resources down the drain. Instead, good stewardship demands that tax dollars are used wisely and effectively to advance medical science and improve the delivery of health care and patient outcomes. The Cures Act has been in the works for three years and includes broad-based input from patient advocacy groups, doctors, public health officials, medical researchers and policymakers to help get treatments and cures to patients quickly and safely.
Q: How will this bill help Iowans?
A: The $6.3 billion Cures Act is good news for patient care. It would inject the views of patients into the drug approval process and accelerate the regulatory process to bring treatments and cures to the market more quickly. Modernizing clinical trials, boosting funding for mental health care, expanding opioid painkiller abuse, prevention and treatment programs and encouraging the use of electronic health records systems will strengthen and improve patient health in America in the 21st century. For Iowans, it will open up opportunities for our teaching hospitals and research institutions to secure federal grants to help deliver new scientific discovery and medical innovation. Specifically, it authorizes $1.8 billion for cancer research and $3 billion for biomedical research. Local communities crippled by a growing surge in painkiller addiction may benefit from $1 billion authorized to prevent and treat opioid and heroin abuse and overdose. I’m also glad my longstanding efforts to improve mental health parity will continue to grow with specific provisions that will expand research, treatment and care for mental illnesses and disorders. Finally, the Cures Act extends provisions for community hospitals I have long championed to support the delivery of health care to patients living in rural America. I’m glad patients served by hospitals in Grinnell, Carroll, Newton and Spirit Lake will continue to benefit from the rural community hospital demonstration program, as well as residents served by the 82 critical access hospitals located throughout Iowa. Iowans deserve access to life-saving treatments, medical services and emergency care in their communities and I will continue working to make sure our hospitals and health care providers are able to provide these services in rural America.
Q: Which provisions of the sweeping legislation did you influence before final passage?
A: When it comes to protecting the public purse and benefiting the public good, I’ve found that transparency is the best prescription for accountability. A few years ago, I secured into law a tool that sheds light on payments between health care providers and pharmaceutical companies. My “Physician Payments Sunshine Act” created an open payments database that lists industry payments to doctors. And so I withheld my support for the “21st Century Cures Act” until a provision watering down the open payments provision was rescinded. With sky-rocketing prescription drug prices and unaffordable health care costs, we need to foster more transparency, not less, when it comes to medical discovery and delivery of care. I’m also glad my bipartisan efforts to strip an Obamacare penalty against small businesses that provided assistance to their employees to help with insurance premiums and health care expenses was included in the Cures Act. Employer-sponsored health coverage has become an unaffordable option for about 60 percent of small businesses. And yet, smaller employers who want to help their employees were stymied by an outrageous IRS regulation that would penalize those who reimbursed employees for health care costs with tax-preferred contributions. Small businesses that participated in the reimbursements could be fined up to $36,500 per employee each year. This misguided IRS rule will be rolled back with passage of the Cures Act. The House overwhelmingly passed the Cures Act 392-26 and I will vote in the Senate to send the bill to the president’s desk.