As a scientist, clean energy entrepreneur and CEO, and now as a Member of Congress representing the western suburbs of Chicago, Congressman Sean Casten has dedicated his life to fighting climate change. Casten draws upon his previous private sector experience in Congress to craft market-based solutions to reduce emissions while creating jobs and spurring economic growth.
Casten serves on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, and is the Vice Chair of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets. He also serves as Co-Chair on the New Democrat Coalition Climate Change Task Force.
Representative Casten believes that Americans have a right to universal, quality, affordable health care. As a member of the New Dem Health Taskforce, he stands solidly behind efforts to protect and strengthen the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Thanks to the ACA, insurance companies can no longer discriminate against people pre-existing conditions or by age, young people can stay on their parents' health plan until they turn 26, and all insurance plans must cover essential health benefits like maternity care, hospital stays, and prescription drugs.
We must work together in a bipartisan way to strengthen and improve the Affordable Care Act. Rep Casten is a cosponsor of H.R.1884, the Protecting Pre-Existing Conditions & Making Health Care More Affordable Act of 2019 which would:
Lowering Health Care Costs:
Rep. Casten is also working to lower the cost of health care which still remains too high and out of reach for far too many. He has introduced the FLAT Prices Act which would target unfair price hikes for prescription drugs. The legislation imposes penalties on pharmaceutical companies who harm consumers with sudden, exorbitant price increases and promotes competition among manufacturers to lower drug prices.
He has also cosponsored legislation, H.R.1046, the Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act, that would directly allow Medicare to negotiate the price taxpayers pay for prescription drugs. In 2018, Americans spent an all-time high of $360 billion on prescription drugs. According to a 2016 Consumer Reports survey, 30 percent of Americans who experienced an increase in the price of one or more of their medications left a prescription unfilled because it was too expensive; 15 percent said they cut pills in half to make them last longer. This bill would authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate drug prices and, if drug companies refuse to negotiate in good faith, it would enable the Secretary to issue a competitive license to another company to produce the medication as a generic.
Women's Health:
As a member of the Pro-Choice Caucus, Rep. Casten strongly believes in a women's right to choose. Politicians have no place in the extremely personal and complex decision-making process between a woman and her doctor. The Congressman opposes anti-choice actions that limit women's access to abortion and birth control. Rep Casten will continue to fight for the constitutionally protected rights for American women.