Health Care

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.
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.  
Health Care Related
President Trump’s announcement today is nothing more than a thinly veiled effort to disguise his Administration’s dismal record on health care and protecting seniors.
10/3/19
When Democrats enacted the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, we included an excise tax on high-cost health insurance plans based on economists’ view that it would bend the cost curve downward and achieve savings for consumers by discouraging unnecessary overspending on care. 
7/17/19
I am pleased that the House was able once more to come together today and pass a bipartisan bill to reauthorize critical intelligence programs that keep our country safe. 
7/17/19
Today, a federal appeals court will hear oral arguments in a case that will have tremendous impact on millions of American families. 
7/9/19
The Trump Administration’s gag rule prohibiting health care providers from recommending the full range of health care options to women must be stopped. 
6/20/19
This week, the House began consideration of appropriations legislation to fund the government. We began with a package of four funding bills: Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; Defense; State & Foreign Operations; and Energy and Water Development.
6/14/19
Last November, House Democrats pledged to the American people that lowering health care and prescription drug costs would be a top priority. 
5/21/19
If you put patients before politics, you will vote for this bill.
5/16/19
As the Trump Administration continues its efforts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, which would kick millions of Americans off of their insurance and remove patient protections, House Democrats are working to secure access to affordable health care and lower prescription drug costs as part of our For the People agenda.  
5/16/19
In 1973, the Supreme Court recognized that women have a Constitutional right to make decisions about their own bodies when it comes to reproductive health.
5/15/19
Following House passage today of two bills aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs and consideration tomorrow of legislation to protect coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, next week I will bring to the Floor a bill to protect and expand access to affordable health care for Americans.
5/8/19
Saturday, May 4, marked the two-year anniversary of House Republicans passing their TrumpCare bill to take health care coverage and protections away from millions of Americans.
5/7/19
The Trump Administration’s ongoing effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act in its entirety would harm millions of Americans. 
5/1/19
I want to thank Rep. Alma Adams and Rep. Lauren Underwood for launching this caucus, and thank you Rep. Joe Kennedy, for being a leader in fighting poverty and health disparities.
4/9/19
This week, House Democrats continued to take action on our For The People agenda.
4/5/19
I want to emphasize that we're concentrating on that in which we campaigned with the American public. In particular, we're focused on health care.
4/3/19
[The American people] want Congress… to work to improve and make our health care system work better for all Americans, and, yes, have it affordable and accessible.
4/2/19
The Trump Administration’s ongoing effort to take health care coverage away from millions of Americans and take critical protections away from millions more through sabotage and lawsuits is reprehensible.
3/29/19
This week, House Democrats continued to take action on our For the People agenda.
3/29/19
Last Congress, Republicans passed a bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act, raising health care costs and putting Americans with pre-existing conditions at risk. When that effort failed, the Trump Administration made every effort to sabotage the law.
3/26/19
In the brief it filed last night in the Texas case against the Affordable Care Act, the Trump Administration endorses taking health coverage away from millions of Americans and eliminating consumer protections for tens of millions more, including the law’s protections for those with pre-existing health conditions. 
3/26/19
The Trump Administration’s decision to impose restrictions on the medical advice that health care providers can share with their patients puts millions of Americans at risk.
2/22/19
Today, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) announced that he will bring Fifth District resident Jacqueline Beale as his guest to President Trump's State of the Union Address on Tuesday evening. 
2/4/19
Last fall, Republicans tried to fool the American public by claiming they now support protections to ensure that those with pre-existing conditions can get the affordable health coverage they need – despite their repeated votes to take such protections away. 
1/9/19