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.
Note to Senate Republicans: willing to do ≠ will do. The Speaker’s latest statement doesn’t seem like much of an assurance.
Another organization -- the American Academy of Family Physicians -- is speaking out against the "skinny repeal" plan. Here are the key points:
A very important reminder for Senate Republicans who are asking for “assurances” that they can pass the “skinny repeal” bill and go to conference with the House: going to conference does not mean that skinny repeal won’t be the final product. So you still probably want to rethink voting “yes” at any point on skinny repeal.
But if it’s a disaster and a fraud, why would you vote for it?
No matter what “assurances” you receive, voting for this bill will still put health coverage at risk. Just in case you needed the numbers once more, here’s a refresher on the impact of the skinny bill:
…Ladies and gentlemen, the United States Senate is now considering what is called a skinny bill on the Affordable Care Act.
For our Senate Republican friends who don’t want to see “skinny repeal” become law: here’s further confirmation that House Republicans probably aren’t going to go to conference – they’re just going to pass “skinny repeal” instead. So you might want to rethink your “yes” vote. From The Hill:
The American Cancer Society did not mince words on “skinny repeal,” and neither will we. Today, they issued a statement urging Senate Republicans to abandon the plan, which would kick cancer patients and survivors off coverage and increase costs:
Senate Republicans’ “skinny repeal” plan has been tried before by several different states, and while we hate to spoil the ending, it didn’t expand coverage or lower costs. In fact, it did just the opposite, with premiums going up and consumers left with fewer options.
For anyone who is dismissing the idea that the House won’t just pass “skinny repeal” rather than going to conference, they should take a look at what House Republicans have to say about it. According to TPM, rank-and-file House Republicans are saying that they’re open to passing it, which should concern Senate Republicans who are on the fence: