Congressman Lynch believes that every American should have access to quality healthcare, regardless of their employment status or income level. For this reason, Congressman Lynch remains supportive of initiatives and programs designed to increase patient access, provide affordable premiums and drug prices for patients, establish appropriate reimbursement rates for doctors, sustain our nations existing Community Health Centers, continue the mission of our Teaching Hospitals, and invest into Health IT and preventative care.

During the second week of the 111th Congress, Congressman Lynch and his colleagues passed H.R. 2, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization (P.L. 111-3) by a vote of 289 ayes to 139 nays. This legislation reauthorized the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) through FY 2013 and provided an additional $35 billion dollars for the program increasing the total SCHIP allotment to roughly $60 billion. This funding increase will raise coverage by an estimated 4.1 million children, bringing the overall total to 11 million.

Health Care Reform

According to recent statistics, there are more than 45 million people uninsured and an additional 25 million individuals underinsured. Furthermore, health care expenditures currently account for 18% of our GDP and are expected to reach 34% by 2040 if our current health care system remains in place. If our current health care system is not reformed it is estimated that we will nearly double our expenditure from $2.4 to $4 trillion within the next decade. Therefore, one of the major priorities for the Democratic-led 111th Congress is reforming our nation’s current health care system. Several committees within the House of Representatives have been tasked with drafting legislation that will address the current inefficiencies within our health care system.

Specifically, the House Ways and Means Committee, the House Education and Labor Committee, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee have been working in conjunction to address the systems current flaws, improve upon current practices, and create new initiatives which will lead our health care system into the future. Some of the major issues which Democrats intend to address are allowing individuals to choose to keep their current health care coverage, improving access to primary care, investing and encouraging individuals to attain preventative care, the creation of a national health exchange that allows States the option of developing their own individual health exchange aimed at informing individuals of their coverage options, reducing the overall cost of the health system, increasing oversight and authority to further prevent fraud and abuse, and the creation of a public health care option.