Massachusetts

National Health Reform Implementation: In addition to expanding coverage through Medicaid, national health reform is expected to provide more than 17 million people with subsidies to purchase coverage through Exchanges. However, some people might still not be able to afford insurance. What measures, if any, would you support to help make health insurance affordable for families?

I support universal healthcare; everyone should have coverage. Families deserve affordable care, and I think we ensure that by focusing on: 1. keeping premiums and co-pays down with closer monitoring for fairness; 2. expand access to affordable prescription drugs; 3. support electronic medical records to heighten privacy and strengthen accuracy; 4. help disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) be compensated fairly for serving more of the most at-risk patients; 5, invest in care, prevention and research.

Childhood Obesity: More than one in six U.S children are obese, a rate that has tripled in the past 30 years. Childhood obesity is linked to a number of debilitating and expensive diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, several kinds of cancer, and other chronic conditions. What can be done, if anything, to help families and communities address this issue?

I believe that we need a good preventative plan that focuses on ingraining kids with an understanding of the health hazards posed by obesity problems. We need to teach kids why it’s so important to get into the habit of a nutritious diet, along with retaining the discipline to keep it, and to exercise on a regular basis. Currently, I am supporting the Stop Obesity in Schools Act (H.R. 2044). This bill would require the...

Children’s Budget: Representative Danny Davis and Senator Menendez have introduced the Children’s Budget Act (H.R. 3772/S. 3108), legislation that would require federal spending on children’s programs to be separately displayed and analyzed in the President’s budget, illustrating how the federal government allocates resources for children. What importance, if any, do you place on creating a Children’s Budget and why?

The Children's Budget Act will let America know what is being spent on young people in our country. I strongly support this important bill. Over the last five years the amount of money spent on youth has decreased. The new Obama budget actually increases, for the first time in many years, the amount of money being spent, and I think it is very important to let Americans know how much is being spent on the...

Physician Shortages: A number of studies haven show that physician shortages can lead to more limited access to health care and longer wait times for patients, and a recent study of children’s hospitals found that shortages in pediatric subspecialties are adversely affecting patient care. What do you think can be done, if anything, to address the problem of physician shortages in certain medical specialties?

I’m fighting to avoid physician shortages in medical specialties. While the law provides incentives to attract medical students into primary care practice, we must keep up the pressure to ensure that we can serve the need for specialty care with loan forgiveness, rural location incentives, longer-term research projects, investment in comparative effectiveness, expanding ‘best’ practices and the assuring the prospect of earning a good living for delivering specialty skills and services to patients in need.

Child Care: Child care is a critical support for many parents, yet paying for child care services is becoming increasingly difficult as costs continue to rise and many Americans are negatively impacted by the recession. What measures, if any, should be taken to help more working families afford child care services?

Providing child care assistance and early education services for children in less well off families is a priority of mine. I have asked for increases in federal funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant along with the Head Start and Early Start Programs. One of the biggest obstacles we face is the very difficult budget situation we continue to have as a result of the excessive tax cuts that have been passed in...

Juvenile Justice: In 2009, a Senate bill was introduced to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) of 1974. What importance, if any, do you place on reauthorizing this piece of legislation and why? What changes would you make to the JJDPA, if any?

It’s important to me that the JJDPA be reauthorized to provide the vulnerable youth in our society with services and protections in our justice system, including the removal of youth from adult jails and “sight and sound” separation of youths from adult detainees. I support efforts by the House Education and Labor Committee to reauthorize this act and will urge my colleagues to join me in this support.

Secondary Education: Every year over one million American students fail to graduate from high school. What policy ideas are most important to you in working to increase graduation rates and strengthen America’s public schools?

The policy ideas I find most important in strengthening America’s secondary education are providing funding, improving teacher quality, and connecting parents with teachers. I voted for the annual education funding bill, which appropriates $1.5 billion to subsidize economically distressed school districts where low graduation rates are prevalent and provides $2.9 billion for state grants for improving teacher quality. Also, I am a cosponsor of the Family Engagement in Education Act (H.R. 5211) which is currently...