In the News

Craig Gilbert
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

WASHINGTON – At a U.S. House hearing on health care, Milwaukee congresswoman Gwen Moore announced that she had been diagnosed with cancer, calling it “a manageable cancer with proper surveillance and treatment.”

“Right now, I’m in great health with an excellent prognosis of living with this disease,” said Moore, who said she had been diagnosed in the spring of 2018 with small-cell lymphocytic lymphoma.

Moore, 67, a Milwaukee Democrat who has been in Congress since 2005, made the announcement at a hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee on "Protecting Americans With Preexisting Conditions."

During the hearing, Moore was recognized by committee Chairman Richard Neal of Massachusetts to announce something about her own experience with health care that her constituents were unaware of.

"I’m so glad to be here. And when I say I am glad to be here, I mean I am glad to be here," Moore said. "Literally instead of yielding me time, you could be delivering kind words at my memorial service. In the spring of 2018, I joined an exclusive club of millions of Americans with the cursed 'C' disease, cancer, a disease that guarantees discrimination in the insurance marketplace, for many a death sentence."

Moore said she spent a lot of time on a "gratitude tour" during the spring and summer of 2018.

She said she was "grateful for medical research, having insurance and most importantly thanking God for the ACA provisions," she said referring to the law widely known as Obamacare. Moore said she did not need the law because of her own coverage, but she said someone with her diagnosis could have been subject to discrimination in obtaining coverage prior to the law's provisions, including those on preexisting conditions.

"We’ve talked about this costing too much or being too expensive. What does a life cost? Let me just say that I paid $15,000 a month for medicine. Who can afford that and what am I worth?" she said.

Moore said in a separate statement that she announced her remission to "remind everyone on this committee that I am a living example of the lifesaving value of essential health benefits."

She said, "This is a cancer I will live with for the rest of my life, but, because of my high-quality healthcare and insurance coverage, it is not a cancer I will die from."

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