The newly sworn-in members of the US House of Representatives in January include at least 3 physicians, 1 dentist, and 1 nurse, boosting the total number of health care professionals serving in Congress.1,2

According to the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), at least 33 physicians and dentists ran for Congress in 2018, and 16 made it past their primaries and were on the ballot in the general election in November 2018.1

The 116th Congress is mostly known for having the largest-ever number of women members (n = 127), and one of them is a nurse who is the youngest-ever African American woman elected to Congress, and another is the only female physician currently serving in Congress.

Health care providers elected and sworn in January 5, 2019, include:

* Lauren Underwood, MS, RN (D-Illinois). Underwood has a dual master's degree in public health and nursing from Johns Hopkins University and is registered in Illinois (her home state), Maryland, and the District of Columbia. She is the youngest African-American woman to be elected to Congress (age 32 years when she was elected).2

Underwood is a Democrat representing Illinois's 14th Congressional district and lives in Naperville. According to her website, she began her career in June 2010 in the US Department of Health and Human Services, working to implement the Affordable Care Act. In 2014, as an Obama Administration appointee, she worked on public health emergencies and disasters including the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Underwood has also taught advanced practice nursing students as an instructor at Georgetown University.3

* Kim Schrier, MD (D-Washington). Schrier, a pediatrician, is the only female physician member in the 116th Congress and the first female physician to serve since the 113th Congress, according to the AGA. She won a seat vacated by a 7-term incumbent. She campaigned on a health care platform, promising to help strengthen the Affordable Care Act and support policies that will increase access to high-quality care.

On her website, she states, "My goal is affordable, accessible care for everyone in this country. As a major step to lowering costs and making our healthcare system more efficient, I propose allowing every citizen and employer to participate in Medicare as a public option on their state's health exchange, on a sliding scale based on ability to pay, with subsidies available to help cover the neediest. This Medicare public option would be offered alongside private insurance plans in the individual and small group markets through the Federal and State Exchanges and the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Exchanges."4

* Mark Green, MD (R-Tennessee). Green is an emergency physician and a 2-term state senator and veteran who ran on a platform primarily focused on reducing the federal debt and reducing regulatory burdens. He was elected the president of the Republican freshman class after he was sworn in.

According to his website, "Any reform of health care must start with the repeal of Obamacare. The law is not only unworkable and unaffordable for the everyday American, it has crushed small businesses by shifting enormous costs onto their backs."5

* John Joyce, MD (R-Pennsylvania). Joyce is a dermatologist who won a newly drawn seat in Pennsylvania with 70% of the vote. He has emphasized a need for increased spending to ensure all veterans are able to access high-quality health care, and his website says he is staunchly pro-life and anti-abortion, and that "I will finish what President Trump has started and fight to dismantle Obamacare completely."6

* Jeff Van Drew, DDS (D-New Jersey). Van Drew is the sole dentist in the freshman class of the 116th Congress. Having served in the New Jersey state assembly and senate, he has a reputation for building coalition and consensus across the aisle, according to the AGA. On his website, he writes that the previous Congress has increased costs "and are even trying to make it tougher for those with preexisting conditions to get the coverage they need. Together, we must focus on reforms to the Affordable Care Act that protect our families and small businesses, and work to lower the high cost of healthcare and prescription drugs."7

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