Oregon Lawmaker Rep. Kurt Schrader Needs Your Help

Help keep one of ophthalmology’s strongest congressional champions in office by making a direct contribution to his campaign via the Academy’s award-winning program, OPHTHPAC^® Direct.

Congressional Academy advocate and Oregon lawmaker Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., has a tough reelection race this year and needs your immediate support. As a doctor of veterinary medicine, Schrader is quite familiar with how legislation affects the practice of medicine. He has been a strong advocate for our issues, working to ensure the policies and regulations affecting health care work in the best interest of physicians and their patients.

As a longstanding member of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, a key committee with jurisdiction over many of ophthalmology’s federal issues, Schrader has been a strong advocate for ophthalmology. His most recent support includes:

• Co-sponsoring legislation to reduce prior authorization burdens in the Medicare Advantage program
• Pressing Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to fix:
  • Inadequate 2022 payment rates for combined MIGS-cataract surgery
  • Inappropriate consolidation of evaluation and management services
• Signing additional letters to:
  • Urge congressional leaders to take action against 2021 and 2022 Medicare fee cuts
  • Urge Food and Drug Administration officials to address drug shortage issues
  • Raise concerns about proposed new administrative burdens on contact lens prescribers to Federal Trade Commission officials

Schrader is also a member of the Caucus’ Drug Price Reduction Task Force and the founding Democratic member of the Problem Solver’s Caucus, a group of House legislators who seek to foster bipartisan cooperation on key policy issues, including health care.

Log in to OPHTHPAC Direct using your AAO.org credentials now and help strengthen Schrader’s fight so he can continue to support and strengthen ours.