Senator Hassan Visits Exeter Hospital, Joins Medical Professionals to Discuss Need for Bipartisan Action to Lower Health Care Costs for Granite Staters

EXETER – Today, Senator Maggie Hassan joined medical professionals at Exeter Hospital to discuss the need for members of both parties to come together to lower health care costs for Granite Staters and to build on and improve the Affordable Care Act. Senator Hassan and other attendees also highlighted how Senate Republican leadership’s various plans to repeal the ACA would result in higher costs and rip insurance away from Granite Staters.

Senator Hassan was joined by Exeter Hospital President and CEO Kevin Callahan, Exeter Hospital Vice President of Strategic Planning Mark Whitney, New Hampshire Health Care Association President and CEO Brendan Williams, Multiple Sclerosis Society Member Dennis Murphy, and other medical professionals and patients.

“It is long past time that Democrats and Republicans in the Senate come together to build on and improve the Affordable Care Act,” Senator Hassan said. “Without any public hearings, Senate Republicans will attempt this week to pass a version of Trumpcare that will lead to higher costs and rip insurance away from millions of Americans. Instead, we must work together in a bipartisan manner to lower health care costs for hard-working Granite Staters and Americans, stabilize the insurance market, and protect the markets from sabotage attempts by the Trump Administration.”

“This has been a terrifying moment for those I represent,” said New Hampshire Health Care Association President and CEO Brendan Williams. “It’s absolutely unsustainable that we should bear such cuts. This is immoral, it’s absolutely immoral to attack the residents that we care for and the caregivers that we employ, to devastate their dreams and hopes for dignity in their later years.”

“The high cost of prescription drugs is a major reason New Hampshire families are seeing their overall health care costs rise, forcing many patients to make difficult decisions about the care they can receive,” said, Dennis Murphy, a resident of Londonderry who lives with multiple sclerosis. “The price of the MS drug I take, for instance, has escalated $40,000 in the last 7 years. Something must be done to stop this trajectory. I thank Senator Hassan who has made this a top priority by co-sponsoring the Improving Access to Affordable Prescription Drugs Act that would bring transparency to these price increases.”

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