{"id":7612,"date":"2016-07-27T22:42:15","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T22:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2016\/07\/27\/sen-tim-kaines-record-on-health-care-hes-with-hillary\/"},"modified":"2016-07-27T22:42:15","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T22:42:15","slug":"sen-tim-kaines-record-on-health-care-hes-with-hillary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/sen-tim-kaines-record-on-health-care-hes-with-hillary\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Tim Kaine's Record On Health Care: He's With Hillary"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rachel Bluth<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

\"Sen.<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Sen. Tim Kaine, of Virginia, counted health care policy among his chief concerns at a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton on July 23 in Miami. Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

toggle caption<\/strong> Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As he takes the stage tonight at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine, is firmly in Hillary Clinton’s camp \u2014 and his party’s \u2014 on the big health care issues. Now a U.S. senator from Virginia, Kaine supports the Affordable Care Act and pushed its Medicaid expansion. He also worked to reform the mental health system when he was governor of Virginia.<\/p>\n

Here are highlights and a few flashpoints of controversy from Kaine’s health policy record:<\/p>\n

Mental Health<\/strong><\/p>\n

A defining moment in Kaine’s tenure as governor was the 2007<\/a> mass shooting at Virginia Tech, where 33 people, including the gunman \u2014 a student at the school \u2014 died.<\/p>\n

Almost exactly one year<\/a> later, Kaine signed a $42 million legislative package to reform the state’s mental health system. The money was used mostly for emergency mental health services, children’s mental health services, increased case managers and doctors and jail diversion projects, according to the Virginia Office of the Attorney General.<\/p>\n

“Somebody shouldn’t be imprisoned because we won’t provide funding for community mental health,” Kaine said<\/a> at a mental health conference in 2008, shortly after the bills were signed, according to the Virginian-Pilot<\/em> in Norfolk, Va.<\/p>\n

The package of laws made it easier for authorities to commit someone having a mental health crisis into treatment involuntarily. They no longer had to prove the patient was in “imminent danger.” Instead, the new standard only required authorities to demonstrate a “substantial likelihood” that the person could cause serious harm to themselves or others.<\/p>\n

Together, Kaine and the state’s General Assembly made a down payment on longer-term reforms for the delivery of mental health and behavioral health services in Virginia, says Peter Cunningham<\/a>, a professor of health behavior and policy at Virginia Commonwealth University.<\/p>\n

Abortion<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a Catholic who worked with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras in 1980, Kaine says he opposes abortion personally, but supports a woman’s right to choose for herself. His stance has drawn criticism<\/a> over the years.<\/p>\n

“Personally, I’m opposed to abortion and I’m opposed to the death penalty,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press<\/a> in June. “The right thing for government is to let women make their own decisions.”<\/p>\n

That was a change from Kaine’s position in 2005<\/a>, when he supported parental consent laws and bans on “partial birth” abortions, causing the Virginia chapter of NARAL Pro-Choice America<\/a> to withhold an endorsement in his gubernatorial campaign. As governor<\/a>, he signed a bill creating “Choose Life” license plates in Virginia, which he said was an issue of free speech.<\/p>\n

Since then, Kaine has actively supported<\/a> Planned Parenthood and opposed abortion restrictions.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Kaine cosponsored legislation<\/a> to improve access to contraception.<\/p>\n

Affordable Care Act<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kaine did not mark himself as a health care reformer when he was Virginia’s governor, but his 2006-2010 term overlapped the recession when little reform was happening anywhere at state or national levels, Cunningham points out.<\/p>\n

“He was probably pretty typical of the middle-of-the-road Democratic governors in sort-of-purple states,” Cunningham says. “When the recession hit, that precluded any other major health reform effort that he might have contemplated.”<\/p>\n

Kaine supported<\/a> Obamacare when he ran for Senate<\/a> in 2012 and has since co-sponsored bills to improve the law. Kaine has pushed for Medicaid expansion in Virginia and co-sponsored legislation<\/a> to incentivize expansion in other states as well. Like Clinton, Kaine has proposed<\/a> adjusting the federal health care law to include some low-income families that aren’t currently covered \u2014 fixing the so-called “family glitch.” This year, he co-sponsored a bill<\/a> to require more businesses to provide benefits under the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n

Public Health<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kaine has occasionally incited controversy<\/a>, as in 2007 when Virginia became the first state<\/a> to require all girls get the human papillomavirus vaccine (protection against a virus that can cause cervical cancer) before enrolling in high school. In 2009, he backed a bill that banned smoking<\/a> in bars and restaurants in the tobacco-producing commonwealth.<\/p>\n

Opioids<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since his election to the Senate four years ago, Kaine has co-sponsored bills that would establish<\/a> an advisory committee to help the FDA approve new opioids, reform<\/a> guidelines for the VA regarding the prescription of opioids, protect<\/a> first responders from lawsuits when they administer emergency drugs to counteract an overdose, and create<\/a> a drug monitoring program for Medicare.<\/p>\n

Many of those bills were rolled into CARA<\/a>\u2014 the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016, which was signed by President Obama in July. The bill bore Kaine’s name as a co-sponsor.<\/p>\n

Kaiser Health News<\/a> (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Let’s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> (Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n

Source:: http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2016\/07\/27\/487629475\/sen-tim-kaines-record-on-health-care-hes-with-hillary?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=healthcare<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Sen.<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Sen. Tim Kaine, of Virginia, counted health care policy among his chief concerns at a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton on July 23 in Miami. Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

toggle caption<\/strong> Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As he takes the stage tonight at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine, is firmly in Hillary Clinton’s camp \u2014 and his party’s \u2014 on the big health care issues. Now a U.S. senator from Virginia, Kaine supports the Affordable Care Act and pushed its Medicaid expansion. He also worked to reform the mental health system when he was governor of Virginia.<\/p>\n

Here are highlights and a few flashpoints of controversy from Kaine’s health policy record:<\/p>\n

Mental Health<\/strong><\/p>\n

A defining moment in Kaine’s tenure as governor was the 2007<\/a> mass shooting at Virginia Tech, where 33 people, including the gunman \u2014 a student at the school \u2014 died.<\/p>\n

Almost exactly one year<\/a> later, Kaine signed a $42 million legislative package to reform the state’s mental health system. The money was used mostly for emergency mental health services, children’s mental health services, increased case managers and doctors and jail diversion projects, according to the Virginia Office of the Attorney General.<\/p>\n

“Somebody shouldn’t be imprisoned because we won’t provide funding for community mental health,” Kaine said<\/a> at a mental health conference in 2008, shortly after the bills were signed, according to the Virginian-Pilot<\/em> in Norfolk, Va.<\/p>\n

The package of laws made it easier for authorities to commit someone having a mental health crisis into treatment involuntarily. They no longer had to prove the patient was in “imminent danger.” Instead, the new standard only required authorities to demonstrate a “substantial likelihood” that the person could cause serious harm to themselves or others.<\/p>\n

Together, Kaine and the state’s General Assembly made a down payment on longer-term reforms for the delivery of mental health and behavioral health services in Virginia, says Peter Cunningham<\/a>, a professor of health behavior and policy at Virginia Commonwealth University.<\/p>\n

Abortion<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a Catholic who worked with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras in 1980, Kaine says he opposes abortion personally, but supports a woman’s right to choose for herself. His stance has drawn criticism<\/a> over the years.<\/p>\n

“Personally, I’m opposed to abortion and I’m opposed to the death penalty,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press<\/a> in June. “The right thing for government is to let women make their own decisions.”<\/p>\n

That was a change from Kaine’s position in 2005<\/a>, when he supported parental consent laws and bans on “partial birth” abortions, causing the Virginia chapter of NARAL Pro-Choice America<\/a> to withhold an endorsement in his gubernatorial campaign. As governor<\/a>, he signed a bill creating “Choose Life” license plates in Virginia, which he said was an issue of free speech.<\/p>\n

Since then, Kaine has actively supported<\/a> Planned Parenthood and opposed abortion restrictions.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Kaine cosponsored legislation<\/a> to improve access to contraception.<\/p>\n

Affordable Care Act<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kaine did not mark himself as a health care reformer when he was Virginia’s governor, but his 2006-2010 term overlapped the recession when little reform was happening anywhere at state or national levels, Cunningham points out.<\/p>\n

“He was probably pretty typical of the middle-of-the-road Democratic governors in sort-of-purple states,” Cunningham says. “When the recession hit, that precluded any other major health reform effort that he might have contemplated.”<\/p>\n

Kaine supported<\/a> Obamacare when he ran for Senate<\/a> in 2012 and has since co-sponsored bills to improve the law. Kaine has pushed for Medicaid expansion in Virginia and co-sponsored legislation<\/a> to incentivize expansion in other states as well. Like Clinton, Kaine has proposed<\/a> adjusting the federal health care law to include some low-income families that aren’t currently covered \u2014 fixing the so-called “family glitch.” This year, he co-sponsored a bill<\/a> to require more businesses to provide benefits under the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n

Public Health<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kaine has occasionally incited controversy<\/a>, as in 2007 when Virginia became the first state<\/a> to require all girls get the human papillomavirus vaccine (protection against a virus that can cause cervical cancer) before enrolling in high school. In 2009, he backed a bill that banned smoking<\/a> in bars and restaurants in the tobacco-producing commonwealth.<\/p>\n

Opioids<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since his election to the Senate four years ago, Kaine has co-sponsored bills that would establish<\/a> an advisory committee to help the FDA approve new opioids, reform<\/a> guidelines for the VA regarding the prescription of opioids, protect<\/a> first responders from lawsuits when they administer emergency drugs to counteract an overdose, and create<\/a> a drug monitoring program for Medicare.<\/p>\n

Many of those bills were rolled into CARA<\/a>\u2014 the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016, which was signed by President Obama in July. The bill bore Kaine’s name as a co-sponsor.<\/p>\n

Kaiser Health News<\/a> (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Let’s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> (Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}