Ranking Member's Press

WASHINGTON, July 25, 2018 — The Senate health committee today approved four important pieces of legislation, including a bill that will help Americans who are struggling to afford their prescriptions, and a bill that will encourage research to help treat sickle cell disease. “Many Americans struggle to afford their prescriptions,”...

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2018 — The Senate health committee today passed legislation sponsored by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) to reduce infant deaths and improve infant health by continuing research and education programs aimed at preventing preterm births. “In Tennessee, about 11 percent of babies...

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 26, 2018 – The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee today approved reauthorizations of the PREEMIE Act, aimed at preventing premature births, and the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act.  “In Tennessee, about 11 percent of babies are born preterm,” Chairman Lamar...

WASHINGTON, June 25, 2018 — United States Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said that “bipartisan support for government-sponsored research should be part of the president’s ‘America First’ agenda,” after the Republican-led Senate passed the first appropriations bills for the next fiscal year, including the...

WASHINGTON, June 21, 2018 — United States Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said the bill approved today by the Senate Appropriations Committee will take another step in the fight against the opioids crisis by helping stop illicit opioids, including heroin and fentanyl from entering the United States. Alexander said, “The...

“To the plumber in Memphis, the songwriter in Nashville, or the bakery owner in Chattanooga, who have been paying through the nose since Obamacare took effect, who might be making $60,000 dollars per year and paying $20,000 for health insurance and who is very likely not receiving a subsidy, the Trump Administration appears to have found...

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2018 — Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said Congress needs more accurate information to determine how to make the 340B Program work better for patients and hospitals. “There is no consistent data that shows how hospitals and clinics are spending the money they save through the 340B...

“I have tried to fix this problem in Congress. Unfortunately, not a single Democrat would work with us to repeal and replace Obamacare. When efforts to repeal the law stalled, I tried for seven months to find a short-term, bipartisan solution to help Americans trapped in the Obamacare marketplaces – and I appreciate your assistance on...

“These plans include the important patient protections that apply to the roughly 160 million Americans who receive coverage from large employers. An AHP cannot charge a higher premium because a patient has a pre-existing condition, deny coverage of a pre-existing health condition, cancel an employee’s plan because the employee gets sick...

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2018 — Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) today released the following statement regarding the postponement of the committee’s Executive Session scheduled for June 20:  “We have announced an Executive Session...

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2018 — Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today announced the committee will hold a series of hearings this year to explore how to reduce health care costs in America: “The United States has the most innovative health care system in the world, but it is also the most complex, and too often...

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2018 — U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Chairman of the Senate’s health committee, today released the following statement on the Justice Department’s legal brief filed in a Texas lawsuit in federal court about the constitutionality of the pre-existing condition protections in the Affordable Care Act...

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2018 — Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said that the Trump Administration’s comprehensive drug pricing blueprint will bring “help to the one in eight Americans who say it is difficult to afford their prescriptions.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar testified...

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2018 — Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said “smart action” by the Food and Drug Administration would help remove barriers to lower drug prices, as required by the 21st Century Cures Act. “Today’s action by the FDA means insurance companies can negotiate...

New York, May 31— Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said “colleges should apply the same enthusiasm to underrepresented points of view that they have applied to underrepresented students.”   “We don’t want to graduate a generation of students who have to go to a ‘safe...

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2018 — Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today announced the committee will hold a hearing on June 12 at 10:00 am EDT with Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, to examine President Trump’s drug pricing blueprint: “Biomedical research has made it possible to cure Hepatitis...

WASHINGTON, May 23, 2018 — The Senate health committee today approved legislation that its Chairman, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said would “help ensure Tennesseans are better prepared to handle threats such as pandemic flu, wildfires, and deliberate attacks with dangerous agents like anthrax.” “Tennesseans want...

“Rural areas where 60 million Americans live suffer the greatest impact of the shortage of health care professionals. According to the National Rural Health Association, there are only 39 primary care doctors for every 100,000 people living in rural areas, but there are 53 primary care doctors for every 100,000 people in urban...

WASHINGTON, May 16, 2018 — Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said today that Senate Democrats’ five month delay in confirming Brigadier General Mitchell Zais as Deputy Secretary of Education was “inexcusable” and “this extremely well-qualified nominee did not deserve to be subject to...

“It very well may be that hospitals and clinics are using the savings to benefit low-income patients as intended. But it is hard to know that until we have more information.”  WASHINGTON, May 15, 2018 — At the Senate health committee’s second hearing this year on the 340B Drug Discount Program Chairman Lamar Alexander...