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).
Israel rolled tanks into northern Gaza for what the military called a targeted raid aiming to destroy Hamas infrastructure. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council failed to pass two separate resolutions proposed by the U.S. and Russia on humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza.
Republican Mike Johnson is the new speaker of the House, but the ally of Donald Trump inherits many of the same political problems that have tormented past GOP leaders.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday spoke out against retaliatory attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. He also says he's redoubling his commitment to working on a two-state solution.
The U.N. warned on Wednesday that it is on the verge of running out of fuel in the Gaza Strip, forcing it to sharply curtail relief efforts in the territory blockaded and devastated by Israeli airstrikes since Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel more than two weeks ago.
The judge in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial fined the former president $10,000 on Wednesday, saying Trump violated a limited gag order barring personal attacks on court staffers.
Republicans eagerly elected Rep. Mike Johnson as House speaker on Wednesday, elevating a deeply conservative but lesser-known leader to the seat of U.S. power and ending for now the political chaos in their majority.
With mail theft and postal carrier robberies up, law enforcement officials have made more than 600 arrests since May in a crackdown launched to address crime that includes carriers being accosted at gunpoint for their antiquated universal keys, the Postal Service announced Wednesday.
