WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, requested information on how the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will implement new regulations on telemedicine that require an in-person...

Up to half of health care spending is unnecessary. That’s according to Dr. Brent James, a member of the National Academy of Medicine, who testified before my committee that 30 percent, and probably as much as 50 percent of all the money spent on health care is unnecessary. That startled me, as I hope it startles you. As a country, we spend a...

In the summer of 2015, President Barack Obama invited Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and me to meet with him at the White House. She is the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s education committee, and I am its chairman. Our conversation that day in the Oval Office offers a lesson for resolving the current partial government shutdown. The...

If you visit the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Niswonger Children’s Hospital in Johnson City, you might see what I did this Spring — a third of the newborn babies in the unit experiencing withdrawal symptoms due to opioid drug exposure in the womb.  Last year, more Tennesseans died from opioid overdoses than were killed in car...

Lamar Alexander, a Republican, represents Tennessee in the U.S. Senate and serves as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Today, if you’re a self-employed plumber or a farmer or a waitress at a small restaurant, you likely don’t have access to the same kind of lower-cost health insurance, tax breaks...

“If you pay attention to politics, you might have heard about the regulatory reforms undertaken by the Education Department or the Environmental Protection Agency. But few have noticed the quiet transformation at the National Labor Relations Board, which is laying the groundwork for stronger economic growth. Under the Obama administration,...

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today blamed Democrats for the lack of senior officials in the Education Department and other federal agencies. Alexander at a hearing of the Senate HELP Committee, which he chairs, said the Trump administration used to share the blame, because it was slow to make nominations. "But not any more," he said....

Congress can pass a Christmas present that would mean lower health insurance premiums for 9 million Americans who get no government subsidies. Specifically, this Christmas present would lower premiums by 18 percent in 2019, according to a new study published today by Avalere, a health consulting company. And according to the Congressional Budget...

The chairman of the Senate committee that oversees healthcare said today "there is good chance" Congress will restore cost sharing payments to health insurers to help limit soaring premiums for those signing up for ObamaCare health plans today for coverage in 2018. U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said a bipartisan plan he developed with Sen....

President Trump has asked for a bipartisan short-term solution to reduce health-insurance premiums and avoid chaos in the individual market so 18 million Americans won’t be hurt. Last week, 12 Republican and 12 Democratic U.S. senators proposed a solution. After eight years of ObamaCare speeches and votes but zero legislative victories, our...

Sen. Lamar Alexander will hold bipartisan hearings in early September in a last minute attempt to assure insurers of the federal government's commitment to the individual market, and pave the way for states to ask for flexibility on insurance benefits. Alexander, R-Tenn., is looking to drum up support for a "bipartisan way to get a limited result...

The Senate has the opportunity now to reverse the trend of an activist National Labor Relations Board and bring stability to our nation's workplaces by voting on two nominees who will fill long-vacant openings on the board. Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel, President Trump's nominees to the NLRB, are eminently qualified to be confirmed. Their...

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Wednesday advanced President Trump's picks to fill two open seats on the National Labor Relations Board, the government's main labor law enforcement agency. The votes for Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel were along strict party lines, reflecting the fact that the nominees are expected...

Business groups and Republicans praised President Trump's choice late Tuesday of lawyer William Emanuel to serve on the National Labor Relations Board, the main federal labor law enforcement agency. With Trump's nomination of Marvin Kaplan to the labor board last week, the picks would give the five-member board its first Republican majority since...

As Washington continues to boggle the nation with the complex minutiae of health-care reform, the contours of an actual deal aren’t nearly so mystifying. The success of the GOP effort comes down to one simple question: Will the most conservative members of Congress accept that the politics of health care have changed? Or more simply yet: Will...

Republicans in the House and Senate are hoping to reverse a National Labor Relations Board regulation that they say helps unions form quickly at the expense of both employers and employees. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., introduced legislation (S 1350) on Wednesday to rescind regulations opponents have nicknamed the “ambush rule.”...

Too many politicians throw up their hands, blame the other guy or say the system's broken when an issue seems unworkable. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is not one of those. After a House Republican health care bill was pulled last week, the state's senior senator knew that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance market was failing and would...

With healthcare reform stalled, Sen. Lamar Alexander announced Wednesday he intends to file legislation that would provide temporary relief for millions of people who live in areas where there are no insurers selling policies on the federal health insurance marketplace. Alexander’s proposal would let people who get government subsidies to buy...

Tennesseans welcome President Trump to Nashville.  This is an opportunity for him to visit one of our country’s most vibrant cities and to honor one of our most important Presidents, Andrew Jackson. It is also an opportunity for the president to learn more about the plight of 230,000 Tennesseans who will likely have zero health insurance...

There is an Obamacare emergency in our state, and Tennesseans are right to care about the damage Obamacare is doing. Last year, BlueCross BlueShield — the oldest and largest insurer in Tennessee — pulled out of Memphis, leaving Humana and Cigna as the only insurance companies on the Memphis exchange for 2017. Last month, Humana...