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 »

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and a community coalition of doctors, nurses, researchers, public health students, health centers and advocates kicked off the HPV Action and Awareness campaign today in front of a local pediatricians’ office in Tampa. Read more »

Today, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL) announced her cosponsorship of the Strengthening Mental Health in Our Communities Act of 2014 that makes significant improvements in prevention and treatment of mental health in response to calls across Tampa Bay and nationwide for a comprehensive strategy. Read more »

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor announced today that she will file a bill to shield the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from future sequester cuts and make America's commitment to medical research permanent. NIH grants the majority of the federal research funding to universities and other research institutions. U.S. Rep. Castor made the announcement at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa during Research Excellence in Tampa Bay, a discussion with the local congressional delegation and nearly 100 USF and Moffitt research faculty. Read more »

Nearly a million Floridians signed up for health care plans sold through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, the most of any state that used the federal marketplace rather than create one of its own. Read more »