The Affordable Care Act expands access to quality health care, improves the insurance market, and protects individuals from the worst abuses of the insurance industry. As a result of this law, more than 40 million Americans have gained health insurance coverage—including one million in Illinois. Insurers can no longer discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, young people are able to stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26, and seniors receive important discounts on their prescription drugs. However, too many Americans still struggle with high out-of-pocket health costs, whether on monthly insurance premiums or at the pharmacy counter when they fill their prescriptions.

Senator Durbin is committed to finding constructive ways to improve our nation’s health care system, expand access to quality and affordable health care, and reduce costs for middle-class families. To do so, Senator Durbin has fought against attempts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, supported and protected the expansion of the Medicaid program for families of modest means, cosponsored legislation to protect Medicare for today’s seniors while also allowing more individuals to take part in the program, and helped introduce legislation that would give Americans the option to enroll in a public health insurance plan. Senator Durbin has also made it a priority to address the shortage of dental providers, particularly pediatric dental providers, in rural and urban areas. There are 2.8 million Illinoisans who live in communities with a shortage of dental providers, and only 37 percent of children covered by Medicaid have a dental visit in a given year. Senator Durbin has worked in the Senate to bolster the dental workforce and expand oral health access through Medicaid.

Senator Durbin has also made it a priority to end abusive pricing practices by the pharmaceutical industry to give patients a break at the pharmacy counter. Senator Durbin supported passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which included historic reforms to lower the price of medications for patients enrolled in Medicare. Most notably, the law capped the monthly cost of insulin at $35, ensured recommended vaccines are available for free, capped annual out-of-pocket costs at $2,000, prevents outrageous price hikes, and allowed Medicare to negotiate with the pharmaceutical industry, resulting in price discounts of up to 79% in the first year, helping to save approximately nine million seniors $1.5 billion in annual out-of-pocket costs, and save the Medicare program $6 billion.

The U.S. health care system is only as good as the science behind it. Investments in medical research produce breakthroughs that ease suffering and lead to improved treatments and even cures for today’s most debilitating conditions. If America is going to remain the world’s leader in cutting-edge biomedical research, federal funding for medical research has to be a national priority.  For the past several years, Senator Durbin has introduced the American Cures Act, which would ensure a steady annual funding increase equal to five percent real growth for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense Health Program, and the Veterans Medical and Prosthetics Research Program.  As a result of his efforts, the annual budget for the NIH has increased by 60 percent, contributing to new cures and therapies, and fueling the local economy.

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, with cigarette smoking killing more than 480,000 Americans each year. Exposure to secondhand smoke leads to nearly 42,000 deaths from lung cancer or heart disease each year.

As a member of the House of Representatives, Senator Durbin led the effort to ban smoking on airplanes. This legislation made airplane flights more convenient, safe, and comfortable. It was the catalyst that led many to begin questioning the safety of smoking in offices, hospitals, schools, restaurants, and bars. To further reduce tobacco use among youth, Senator Durbin helped lead the passage of legislation to raise the federal tobacco purchase age to 21 and closed loopholes exploited by e-cigarette manufacturers to avoid oversight.

Since 2014, e-cigarettes have become the most common form of tobacco product among youth.  This is why Senator Durbin has introduced bipartisan legislation to crack down on e-cigarette companies that target children with kid-friendly flavors, introduced bicameral legislation to update federal tobacco taxes to ensure they remain effective public health tools, and has repeatedly called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to better enforce federal laws against the unlawful sale of unauthorized e-cigarette products.