Healthcare

As a member of the Rural Health Care Coalition Steering Committee, Mike is working to bring health-care facilities and professionals to rural areas. In addition, he supports efforts to restore Medicare payments to hospitals, home health agencies, nursing homes, hospices, ambulance services, and community health centers.

While Mike believes the need to reform our health care system is clear, he thinks the focus should be on lowering the rapidly increasing costs of health care, bringing down the cost of premiums, and ensuring access and affordability of health care for all. Mike advocates for tackling health care reform in targeted ways, like strengthening Medicare and Medicaid; improving Medicare reimbursement rates for rural health providers, expanding the use of electronic medical records; expanding and strengthening community health centers; allowing small business owners to join pools of coverage to access better insurance rates; allowing states to form compacts to allow the purchase of insurance across state lines; and providing tax credits for long-term care.

Mike has been named a “Super Hero” five times by the National Association of Community Health Centers because of his work on their behalf. He is a member of several Congressional caucuses that work to prevent diseases and secure additional research funding including the Congressional Diabetes Caucus, the House Cancer Caucus, the House Vision Caucus, and the Youth Sports Caucus.