Citing statistics they called alarming, health officials urged Pinellas County parents to vaccinate their children against the sometimes deadly human papilloma virus, or HPV. Read more »

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL) announced today that two Tampa Bay organizations are recipients of Healthy Start grants for a five-year cycle to fund initiatives that reduce infant mortality rates in Tampa and South St. Petersburg. Read more »

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL) announced today that Tampa Family Health Centers is one of only two recipients in Florida to receive a $250,000 grant through the Affordable Care Act to fund facility enhancements to support the Patient-Centered Medical Home model. Read more »

Today, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor hosted Dr. Anne Schuchat, the top immunization specialist in the nation, who warned that while recent outbreaks of diseases have garnered international attention, we cannot forget about those that can actually be prevented, such as HPV, but still are causing thousands of deaths each year nationwide. A vaccine is available to boys and girls to prevent HPV and the cancers they may cause. Read more »

By U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor published in The Tampa Tribune on July 31, 2014 You and your employer should check the mailbox this summer for health insurance rebate checks. For the third year in a row, rebate checks from health insurance companies are on their way to customers. This is thanks to a provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires insurers to spend the majority of premiums… Read more »

A new report shows the health reform law has helped to extend the life of the Medicare trust fund, in addition to improving Medicare overall. Read more »

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL) announced today that she and 32 members of Congress have created the State Medicaid Expansion Caucus to raise local, state and national awareness of the adverse economic and health impacts caused by the 24 states – including Florida – that have refused to expand health services for working Americans under Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Read more »

In response to a three-judge panel in Washington that ruled 2-1 that insurance tax credits apply only in states that have set up their own marketplaces, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL) said the following: “Floridians are at the mercy of the rigid ideology of Republican Gov. Rick Scott and legislators who refused to set up a Florida marketplace, expand health services to a million Floridians under Medicaid and even took away the insurance commissioner's ability to oversee insurance company rate increases. Hopefully, on appeal, the hundreds of thousands of our neighbors who finally have affordable health insurance will maintain access to their valuable tax credits.” Read more »

Today, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL) announced that the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) received a $23 million Health Care Innovation Award to test new ideas and innovative models to deliver improved care, lower costs and better health to children enrolled in Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), particularly those with the greatest health care needs. St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa is one of 10 children’s hospitals under CHA umbrella effort. Read more »

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, over half of American girls ages 13 to 17 have received at least one dose of the vaccination to protect against the human papillomavirus (HPV) - -and it's a rate that decreases over the needed second and third doses. Read more »