**FOR PLANNING PURPOSES**

CONTACT: Emilia.Rowland@mail.house.gov

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 13TH @ 10 AM:

Rep. Lee to Host Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen in Pittsburgh for Tour Cancer Screening Center, Roundtable on Lowering Health Care Costs

PITTSBURGH, PA — TOMORROW, February 13th, Rep. Lee will host Secretary Yellen in West Penn Hospital. Together, they will tour the cancer screening facility, participate in a healthcare listening roundtable with union nurses, and then deliver remarks on current efforts to lower health care costs further.

What: Tour of cancer screening center, roundtable with union nurses on lowering health care costs, followed by remarks at West Penn Hospital with Secretary Janet Yellen

When: February 13 from 10 AM to 11:45 PM

• Tour starts: 10 AM
• Roundtable starts: 10:30 AM
• Remarks start: 11:30 AM

Where:​ West Penn Hospital, 4800 Friendship Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Who:

• Congresswoman Summer Lee 
• Secretary of the Treasury Janey Yellen
• Dan Onorato, AHN
• Various AHN officials
• Susan Kalson, Squirrel Hill Health Center
• Nurses from AHN
• Patients from Squirrel Hill Health Center

RSVP HERE.

Background

Thanks to the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats, enhanced healthcare subsidies provided through the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act are having a tremendous impact in PA-12. 

• Individuals with ACA marketplace health insurance coverage in the district will pay on average $2,130 in premiums this year. Without the enhanced subsidies provided through the IRA, the average premium would have increased to $3,270, an increase of 54%.
  • A 60-year-old couple with a household income of $80,000 will save $20,308 in premiums this year, avoiding a 360% increase in premiums.
  • A family with a 35-year-old single parent with one child, and a household income of $30,000 will save $1,272 in premiums this year, avoiding a 757% increase in premiums.
• A family with two 40-year-old adults, two children, and a household income of $75,000 will save $3,096 in premiums this year, avoiding an 86% increase in premiums.

Rep. Lee has fought for hospital workers, fighting hospital monopolization, and expanding health care since her time in the State House of Pennsylvania,, where she worked with hospital workers and patients to organize a takeover of UPMC’s board meeting and walkout that helped to push then-AG Shapiro to broker a historic deal to ensure millions of Highmark and UPMC patients did not lose access to care. She also founded the Pittsburgh Hospital Workers Taskforce along with State Rep. Sara Innamurato and held a hearing on Pittsburgh’s hospital workforce crisis [full video], roundtables with state and local electeds, and regularly joined workers at rallies. Weeks into her first term in Congress, Lee partnered with State Rep. Sara Innamorato and the American Economic Liberties Project on a report titled ​​Critical Condition: How UPMC’s Monopoly Power Harms Workers and Patients. 

.In February 2023, Rep. Lee hosted Secretary Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra for a community roundtable on lowering health care costs for Pittsburgh seniors with community leaders, health advocates, seniors, and homecare workers. Then in May, Rep. Lee announced the introduction of her first bill, the Hazard Pay for Health Care Heroes Act, co-led by Reps. Ro Khanna (CA-17) and Barbara Lee (CA-12). Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the companion in the Senate. The bicameral legislation would empower the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue grants related to a hazard pay of up to $13 per hour / $25,000 per year and implement additional safety measures, such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and alternative transit, for essential workers in health care and supporting services who are providing patients with immediate or undisrupted medical assistance during emergencies and extreme weather disasters. The legislation would be applicable to the full spectrum of workers in health care that make high quality health care possible, including home care workers, medical technologists, nurses, doctors, and environmental services staff.