Health Care Reform Is Personal for Wisconsin Congresswoman in Remission for Cancer
*By Justin Chermol*
For veteran congresswoman and cancer survivor Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, the issue of healthcare is both political and personal.
The lawmaker, who just entered remission after 10 months battling small-cell lymphoma, knows she's among the lucky ones. She did not have to battle an insurance company over a pre-existing condition or cope with in spike in her premiums.
In President Trump's second State of the Union speech, he set health care as priority and vowed "to protect patients with pre-existing conditions."
But according to Moore, that promise is empty.
"Despite the rhetoric of Republicans, it's just rhetorical on their part when they say 'Oh, we want to protect people with pre-existing conditions.' No, you can't do it if you in fact repeal the Affordable Care Act," she said.
"I think one of the centerpieces of the Affordable Care Act is that we required insurance companies to provide real plans, not these junk plans, " she added of the Obama-era law that was thrown into question when President Trump took office.
Meanwhile, drug prices continue to surge.
Americans spend nearly $1,200 on prescription drugs a year, according to the [OECD](https://data.oecd.org/healthres/pharmaceutical-spending.htm).
"It is absolutely foolish that the government has one of the biggest pools of customers in the country ー consumers of health care, when you consider Medicaid and Medicare ー and yet we don't require pharmaceutical companies to negotiate their prices.
"It's a totally anti-capitalist notion," Moore continued. "For people who say they are against socialism ー and therefore \[prefer\] the market figuring it out ー one of the things the market would do, is have you negotiate across this huge pool of consumers."
"That's very low hanging fruit."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/rep-gwen-moore-d-wi-aims-to-protect-taxpayers-with-new-legislation).
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
President Donald Trump is hitting foreign steel and aluminum with a 25% tax. If that sounds familiar, it’s because he did pretty much the same thing during
President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. to stop minting pennies. His surprise announcement comes after decades of unsuccessful efforts to phase out the 1-cent coin. Advocates for ditching the penny cite its high production cost and limited utility. Fans of the penny cite its usefulness in charity drives and relative bargain in production costs compared with the nickel. Here's a look at some question surrounding Trump's order.
The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down the agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought is the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama created it following the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
Brian Bennett, Senior White House correspondent at TIME, discusses Musk's relationship to Donald Trump and how he has such access in the federal government.
MarketWatch's Rob Schroeder helps us break down what is happening with tariffs implemented by the Trump admin., plus what Canada and Mexico have promised.
