{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://ansari.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-ansari-hosts-shadow-hearing-on-healthcare-affordability", "Rep. Ansari Hosts Shadow Hearing on Healthcare Affordability", "2026-07-02", "2026", "2026-07", "Democrat", "House", "AZ", "Yassamin Ansari", "A000381", "ansari.house.gov", "ansari", "https://ansari.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 This week, Representative Yassamin Ansari, Chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus\u2019 (CPC) Lowering Costs Taskforce, hosted the Taskforce\u2019s second shadow hearing, titled \u201cPatients Over Profits: Lowering Healthcare Costs for All Americans.\u201d The hearing featured experts and CPC members discussing proposals to expand prescription drug price negotiations, tackle PBM and corporate hospital profiteering, reduce out-of-pocket costs, and ensure all Americans can access affordable, high-quality healthcare.\n\n\u201cMedicare and Medicaid need protections and reinforcement now more than ever. Insurance premiums are rising, and millions of Americans have been stripped of their healthcare, with the expectation for millions more to lose Medicare or Medicaid as well,\u201d said Rep. Ansari. \u201cProgressives are ready to tackle this issue with innovative policy and bold reforms. We have the legislation, the vision, and the energy to see it through. With Medicare for All, we can provide every American with access to medically necessary healthcare. The health of our nation cannot continue to be at the whims of corporations.\u201d\n\n\u201cPeople are hurting. When I am home in my district and at the grocery store, I hear the stories of families struggling to afford basic essentials like healthcare. This issue has been made worse after Republicans let cost-saving tax credits expire and passed the Big Ugly Bill that gutted $1 trillion from Medicaid,\u201d said Congresswoman Dingell. \u201cI have been fighting to expand access to affordable, quality healthcare since entering Congress, and I am not letting up. When Democrats take back the House, we will continue fighting to lower healthcare costs, increase access to coverage, and give working families an opportunity to thrive.\u201d\n\nWATCH\n\n\u201cRep. Ansari, Rep. Dingell and the Congressional Progressive Caucus are correct in understanding the urgent imperative of lowering the cost of prescription medicines for Americans. Big Pharma\u2019s monopolistic price gouging of Americans is worse now than at any time in American history but easily addressed if Congress and the Executive have the political will to do so. Expanding Medicare drug price negotiation to cover all drugs, with no delays and to apply to the private market could save the nation roughly $200 billion every year,\u201d said Robert Weissman, Co-President, Public Citizen.\n\n\u201cEvery day, families are forced to choose between a paycheck and caring for the people they love. Home care for seniors and disabled or chronically ill family members can cost up to $68,000 a year, and over $288,000 for those with the most intensive needs. Medicaid is how most Americans actually pay for long-term care, yet H.R. 1\u2019s historic cuts shredded that patchwork system. These cuts don\u2019t save money, they benefit the wealthiest among us while shifting costs onto emergency rooms, states, and family caregivers, who already provide $1.1 trillion in unpaid care and often can\u2019t get care for themselves. Affordable care isn\u2019t a luxury. It\u2019s what 130 million family caregivers, care workers, seniors, and disabled people in this country are counting on,\u201d said Nicole Jorwic, Chief Program Officer, Caring Across Generations.\n\n\u201cOur healthcare system has been broken for decades,\u201d said Lisa Brown, Executive Vice President of the 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, Maryland/DC Division. \u201cBad policy, lack of oversight, and corporate interests in healthcare have led us here, and people are dying because of it. But 1199, and SEIU, will fight to right these wrongs and build a better world for healthcare workers and patients.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are now at a breaking point. And the cause is clear: extreme concentration of health care corporations that extract obscene amounts of wealth by inflating medical prices and premiums. Thank you to Congresswomen Ansari and Dingell for hosting this important conversation about how we expand access to high-quality affordable healthcare,\u201d said Topher Spiro, Senior Health Fellow, Center for American Progress.\n\n###", 1, "2026-07-03T08:00:00Z", "2026-07-03T08:01:30Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://ansari.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-ansari-hosts-shadow-hearing-on-healthcare-affordability"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4124258887022734, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}