Health Care

Kendrick is the only candidate who supports comprehensive health care reform and will fight to protect Medicare for Florida’s seniors.

Every American deserves access to affordable, quality health care. In his years as a public servant, Kendrick has been a strong voice for increasing coverage for society’s most vulnerable members, especially children and pregnant women.

During his time in Congress, Kendrick has supported efforts to:

• Improve and expand access to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which has provided health insurance coverage to millions of kids and pregnant women who would otherwise be uninsured.
• Require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate flower prescription prices to help people on Medicare save money.
• Allow research into human embryonic stem cells, which could hold the cure for diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
• Provide better health care for Floridians by boosting the number of Medicare-supported physician residency training positions in the state's teaching hospitals. Florida and a number of other states are experiencing a shortage of medical residents, which leads to a shortage of doctors. 
• Increase research into lupus, a life-threatening disease that can cause inflammation and tissue damage all over the body and that affects 1.5 to 2 million Americans.

Kendrick proudly supported comprehensive health care reform, and Floridians have already started to see the benefits:

• Seniors in the Medicare Donut Hole have begun to receive $250 rebate checks to help pay for their prescriptions.
• More than 235,000 small businesses are eligible to receive tax credits to provide health insurance to their employees.
• High-risk insurance pools have opened for individuals who previously could not purchase health insurance because of pre-existing conditions.

There are many additional benefits for Floridians that take effect over the next few years: 

• Health insurance will no longer be able to drop customers who get sick, and won’t be able to deny coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions.
• Seniors on Medicare will get free preventive care.
• Hundreds of community health centers in Florida will receive millions of dollars to expand access to health care in their communities.
• Lifetime caps on the amount of insurance an individual can have will be banned.
• Health insurance exchanges will allow individuals who can’t buy insurance through their employer to purchase it on their own at competitive prices.

Comprehensive health care reform is an important first step forward in reforming our health care system, but it is not the end of reform. As Florida’s next U.S. Senator, Kendrick looks forward to participating in, and shaping, future health care policy so that it protects the best interests of Floridians.

Download the One-Pager for Kendrick's take on this issue.