In the News

Chris Cioffi
Roll call

On a day when House Democrats returned to discussions about pre-existing health conditions, Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., announced Tuesday she was diagnosed with small cell lymphocytic lymphoma in the spring of 2018. She said the disease is now in remission.

“Right now I’m in great health with an excellent prognosis of living with this disease,” she said during the House Ways and Means Committee’s first hearing of the 116th Congress.

Moore said in a release after her announcement in the committee that she felt Tuesday was the right time to announce her 10-month battle.

“This is a cancer I will live with for the rest of my life, but, because of my high-quality health care and insurance coverage, it is not a cancer I will die from,” Moore said in a release.

Tuesday’s hearing on protections for patients with pre-existing conditions offers Democrats a chance to refocus on their 2018 winning campaign message and chart a path forward on how they may act on those issues.

“If there was an issue that helped launch our majority status, it was pre-existing conditions,” Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., said last week.

Moore’s announcement put an exclamation point on the topic.

“Ways and Means Republicans have voted to defund, undercut, and undermine our country’s health care system. They have made it clear as day that they care more about the cost of the ACA than the value of human life,” Moore said. “I am announcing my remission today to remind everyone on this committee that I am a living example of the lifesaving value of essential health benefits. For my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren that is a cost worth paying.”

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