At roundtables in Bend and Medford, Oregon, this month, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) met with patients and families impacted by ALS, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, lupus and diabetes — diseases for which there are no known cures.
The 21st Century Cures Act is the product of more than a year of listening to and working with patients and experts across the country. House members have been discussing Cures with residents of communities in their districts throughout the process to gather ideas to improve and modernize the health care system.
The 21st Century Cures Act is a transformative approach to health reform that seeks better, faster, safer and more innovative approaches to treat diseases and medical conditions that currently lack effective therapies.
“We agreed that we as a nation must do better, and a new bill moving through Congress — the 21st Century Cures Act — will give hope to disease sufferers and their families,” Walden (R-OR) said in an op-ed featured on his website. “With this initiative, we are on the cusp of something really big and bold.”
The legislation takes an innovative approach by establishing a temporary Innovation Fund that is fully offset and retains the critical role of the Appropriations Committee to determine the specific biomedical spending priorities through the regular appropriations process each year of its five-year life.