Health Care
House Democrats are committed to expanding access to quality, affordable health care coverage, strengthening protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and lowering prescription drug prices and the cost of health care overall.
Under President Biden and Congressional Democrats, the uninsured rate is at an all-time low. While Republicans vote against legislation to lower health care costs, House Democrats are working to bring down the overall costs of health care and increase access to health care coverage.
With the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, House Democrats took direct action to reduce health care costs for millions of Americans. For the first time, Medicare will be able to negotiate prescription drug prices for high-cost drugs. The law also caps out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients at $2,000 annually and establishes a $35 cap for a month’s supply of insulin. The Inflation Reduction Act also protects progress made under President Biden to expand access to quality, affordable health care coverage by continuing the expanded premium tax credits originally passed in the American Rescue Plan, which lowered health care premiums for millions of working families.
This built upon the Affordable Care Act – enacted by President Obama and Congressional Democrats in 2010 – that has put American families in control of their own health care and ended a system that put profits ahead of patients. Since its enactment, 35 million Americans have gained access to quality, affordable health coverage. Americans with pre-existing conditions can no longer be discriminated against by insurance companies. Parents can now keep their children on their insurance plans up to age twenty-six. Insurance companies are no longer allowed to put annual or lifetime limits on coverage or drop people when they get sick. Additionally, thanks to the law, Medicare costs – from premiums and deductibles to overall program spending – have slowed to well below the levels projected before the law passed.
These reforms were crucial, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic struck but more action was needed. That’s why House Democrats worked to enact legislation right away - without any Republican support - to ensure that testing, treatment, and vaccinations for COVID-19 would be covered with no out-of-pocket costs to Americans.
House Democrats remain committed to the goal of affordable, accessible health care for all.
I’m pleased to see that the Senate came to an agreement on a long-term reauthorization of CHIP, which enables low-income families to access affordable health care coverage for their children.
Congress must take action before the end of the month to address a number of health care-related issues, including reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
If President Trump carries out his threat next week to end cost-sharing subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, he will cause premiums to rise 25% and explode the deficit by $194 billion over the next ten years.
As part of the Trump Administration's ongoing efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act, the Department of Health and Human Services has now abandoned outreach and education campaigns specifically aimed at helping millions of Latinos sign up for health insurance. From Talking Points Memo:
Make no mistake, as health insurers set prices for 2018 coverage, the uncertainty caused by President Trump and Congressional Republicans is having an impact on consumers. A new Kaiser Family Foundation study out today shows that Americans will face higher costs, thanks to GOP efforts to undermine the law.
While President Trump is playing games with cost sharing reduction payments, insurance commissioners are becoming increasingly frustrated by what the uncertainty means for consumers: higher costs and loss of coverage. There will be no doubt who is at fault for those consequences if the White House fails to make these payments at the end of the month. Republicans own the health care system and will be held responsible for any changes that Americans see.
Since taking office 200 days ago, President Trump has failed to deliver on his promises to the American people.
Health care, tax reform, passing a budget, funding the government, paying our nation’s bills… on issue after issue, Republicans are deeply divided. For the past seven months, they’ve pursued partisanship and it has yielded virtually no legislative accomplishments. So now they have a choice: continue this failed strategy or work with Democrats to address our fiscal challenges and ensure access to affordable health care.
As the August District Work Period begins, House Republicans have little to tout back home in their districts.
This week, Senate Republicans attempted to pass various iterations of TrumpCare, each of which would have kicked millions of Americans off coverage and raised premiums for millions more.