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.
House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) announced today the launch of a new video series, titled “TrumpCare Stories: Americans Talk to Congress About Health Care.”
After House Republicans passed their TrumpCare bill with no hearings, no witnesses, and little debate, Senate Republicans are following their lead and attempting to hide their TrumpCare bill from the American people.
A look at the headlines today shows Republicans in the Senate are following the lead of their House colleagues on TrumpCare. The Senate GOP has been meeting in secret to negotiate a bill and reports indicate they are finalizing a draft. Yet, they won’t let some of their own Members – let alone the American people – see what’s in the bill. It’s clear they want to hide the impact from the public and jam it through before heading home for the July 4th district work period.
Oh come on. The GOP TrumpCare bill is so secret, Republicans in the Senate don’t know what’s in it? It seems Republican Senators are as curious as the rest of America about what could be in the secret bill to kick 23 million Americans off their health care. Don’t take our word for it.
Regular order includes committee markups, hearing from witnesses, a Congressional Budget Office score, discussing with constituents, and allowing all Members and the public to review the bill text. But Republicans are not following regular order under TrumpCare. For weeks, 13 male Senators have been meeting in secret to negotiate a bill and reports indicate they now have a draft. Yet, they won’t release the text.
For the past seven years, Republicans have taken a number of steps to undermine the success of health insurance marketplaces.
Doesn’t matter how you spin it, Senate GOP. A seven-year rollback of the Medicaid expansion would still mean that millions of Americans would lose health coverage. As a reminder, here’s what the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities had to say about how Americans would be impacted by ending the Medicaid expansion:
The decision by Anthem to withdraw from the health insurance marketplace in Ohio is yet another example of uncertainty created by Republicans driving insurers from the market.
With control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, Republicans have a responsibility to lead and get things done on behalf of the American people.
As the House and Senate reconvene this week, it seems the District Work Period did not go very well for the GOP, who once again got an earful from their constituents who oppose TrumpCare. Of course, that should come as no surprise following the latest CBO score that confirmed 23 million Americans will lose coverage and premiums will spike for millions of others. Here is a look at how it’s playing out in the press: