Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) today released the following statement after the House voted to override the President’s veto of H.R. 3762, the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act: “The passage of the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act marked the first time Congress used the Reconciliation process since the Obama Administration did so six years ago to force Obamacare and its taxes and mandates onto us all. It is a shame that the President and his al... Read more

Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) today released the following statement after passage of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3762, the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act: “For the first time, Congress has placed a repeal of the most onerous parts of Obamacare and an elimination of federal funding for Planned Parenthood on President Obama’s desk, forcing him to make a tough choice: respect the will of the American people or protect his namesake law and Planned Parenthood. Unfortun... Read more

For the past seven months, the 114th Congress has been hard at work on the issues facing America. But there still is much to be done. In this week’s newsletter (which you can sign up to receive here), I thought I would bring to your attention one of the bills I hope will join the 49 that have been signed into law so far this Congress – and that’s the Opioid Addiction Treatment Modernization Act (H.R. 2872), which Congressman Larry Bucshon, M.D. (R-IN-8) and I introduced on June 24, 2015. The Uni... Read more

Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) today released the following statement after House passage of H.R. 6, the 21st Century Cures Act: “The NIH and the FDA have played a critical role in ensuring that Americans have access to the safest and most cutting-edge drugs in the world. However, ever-increasing regulation from Washington has stifled innovation and slowed – even prevented – life-saving medications and medical devices from entering our health care delivery system. By cutting red tape, increasin... Read more

Congressman Larry Bucshon, M.D. (R-IN-8) – joined by Congressman Steve Womack (R-AR-3) – introduced H.R. 2872, the Opioid Addiction Treatment Modernization Act, a bill to help combat the opioid abuse epidemic and ensure patients have access to appropriate treatments. After introduction, the Congressmen released the below statements: “As a country, we are facing a growing, deadly opioid addiction epidemic that is tearing apart our communities,” said Congressman Bucshon. “As a physician, I’ve seen... Read more

Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) today released the following statement regarding the Supreme Court’s King v. Burwell ruling: “Today’s ruling does not change the reality that Obamacare is fundamentally flawed, increasing costs for families and businesses alike, killing jobs, making full-time employment harder to find, and limiting choice in and access to health care. Congress must take action to address the Affordable Care Act’s many broken parts and promises. But unfortunately, until Obamacare i... Read more

Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) today released the following statement after passage of H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which repeals the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), replaces it with a formula that returns stability to Medicare physician payments, strengthens Medicare’s ability to fight fraud, provides funding for community health centers and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through fiscal year 2017, and makes real, structural reforms t... Read more

Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) – a cosponsor of H.R. 596 – today released the following statement in response to House passage of the bill, which repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 in their entirety and calls on the relevant House committees to submit legislation within each committee’s jurisdiction to find new solutions to health care based on twelve guiding principles... Read more

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which is largely in charge of administering the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), will use over $702 million of user fees to spend a total of $773 million on consumer outreach and education for the Obamacare marketplaces. Unfortunately, while the administration conducts this massive advertising campaign to increase the law’s popularity, taxpayers, who largely view the law unfavorably and whose dolla... Read more

U.S. Representatives Renee Ellmers (R-NC-2), Steve Womack (R-AR-3), Doris Matsui (D-CA-6), and Bill Owens (D-NY-21), along with 44 of their House colleagues, today sent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Burwell a bipartisan letter requesting that the she instruct the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to use its existing authority to update outdated regulations to comprehensively address the disease of addiction, allowing patients to acc... Read more