Rep. Gwen Moore announces cancer diagnosis and remission

Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), accompanied by then-Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), pauses during a news conference on Capitol Hill in 2012. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) announced Tuesday that she has been battling small cell lymphoma for the past 10 months and that her cancer is now in remission.

“This is a cancer I will live with for the rest of my life, but, because of my high-quality healthcare and insurance coverage, it is not a cancer I will die from,” Moore said in a statement.

She revealed her diagnosis during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing Tuesday.

“Literally, instead of yielding me time, you could be delivering kind words at my memorial service,” Moore said during the hearing.

.@GOP is always talking about the costs of the ACA: the cost of protecting pre-existing conditions, the cost of essential health benefits, the cost of the individual mandate.

But what about the value of life? The lives of your kids? Your parents?

That's the core of this debate. https://t.co/FOozuMwGfW

— Rep. Gwen Moore (@RepGwenMoore) January 29, 2019

Moore, who has served in the House since 2005, praised the Affordable Care Act and blasted Republicans for voting to repeal the health-care law, without which she said she would be paying $15,000 a month out of pocket for the cost of her medicine.

“I am announcing my remission today to remind everyone on this committee that I am a living example of the lifesaving value of essential health benefits,” she said in the statement. “For my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren that is a cost worth paying.”