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
Republicans Sabotage Health Care During a Pandemic, Democrats Work to Lower Costs, Expand Coverage
The Majority Leader’s Office has issued the following report on the stark contrast between both parties when it comes to health care priorities. While Republicans work to sabotage health care during a pandemic, House Democrats are working to lower drug costs and expand coverage.
 
What They’re Saying: House Passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act
 Yesterday, House Democrats passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act, which will benefit over 17 million Americans by expanding coverage and bringing down health care costs. News coverage and blog posts highlighted the stark contrast between House Democrats delivering on our pledge to strengthen and enhance the Affordable Care Act and Republican efforts to strike down the ACA in the courts and eliminate protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions.
Hoyer Floor Remarks on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act
Madam Speaker, last week in the middle of the worst pandemic in our lifetimes, the Trump Administration submitted briefs to the Supreme Court in support of a lawsuit by Republican-led states seeking to overturn the law that provides millions of Americans with access to affordable health care.
Hoyer Statement on the Supreme Court Striking Down Louisiana Abortion Law
Today’s ruling is a victory for women’s reproductive freedom in our country, which has been under assault by Republican efforts to limit women’s access to health care by forcing the closure of facilities that provide that care. 
Hoyer on GOP Lawsuit to Strike Down the Affordable Care Act: A Stark Contrast to the Work that House Democrats are Doing to Protect and Enhance the ACA
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) joined a press call today to discuss the briefs being filed in the Supreme Court by Republicans in support of their lawsuit to strike down the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI), Little Lobbyists Executive Director and Co-Founder Elena Hung, and Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach also spoke on today’s call. Below is a transcript of Leader Hoyer’s remarks:
Hoyer Statement on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act
Today, House Democrats unveiled legislation to strengthen and expand the Affordable Care Act, fulfilling a promise made to the American people who entrusted us to use our House Majority to make access to quality health care more affordable. The House will vote on this bill on Monday, June 29.
 
Hoyer Statement on the 10th Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act
Ten years ago, Democrats fought hard to reform a deeply broken health care system. Refusing to accept a reality in which tens of millions of Americans had to go without insurance or were routinely dropped from their coverage as soon as they became sick, we enacted major legislation to ensure that quality, affordable health care would be accessible to all Americans, regardless of their income.
Hoyer Statement on the President’s Address to the Nation on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Tonight, the President finally did what he should have done weeks ago: take this crisis seriously and address the nation about his Administration's strategy to deal with coronavirus. While he still failed to confront the hard truths of this challenge or answer important questions - including why officials still do not have enough testing kits and how he is going to address that shortage - President Trump at last shared steps he intends to take in the days and weeks ahead. 
House Democrats Pass Emergency Funding Bill to Respond to Coronavirus
This week, House Democrats moved swiftly to pass an $8.3 billion funding bill to ensure federal agencies, states, and localities have the resources necessary to respond to the coronavirus.
Hoyer Statement on the Emergency Supplemental Funding Bill to Address Coronavirus
Today, I will bring to the House Floor a supplemental appropriations bill that will allocate $8.3 billion to help states, communities, and federal agencies combat the new coronavirus.