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.
Despite promising transparency and an open process, House Republicans are bringing TrumpCare to the Floor without an updated CBO score. The hypocrisy hasn’t gone unnoticed:
The Hill: GOP rushing to vote on healthcare without analysis of changes
Republicans now control all the levers of our government. They will be held responsible for whatever happens to our health care system, including the actions that have already destabilized our health insurance markets since January.
Today’s press briefing by the White House Press Secretary had quite a few alternative facts about #TrumpCare. Here’s a look at Spicer’s comments and how they fail to match reality:
For any Republican who is thinking about supporting #TrumpCare, here’s a refresher on how those town halls went during the last District Work Period:
Sean Spicer is right about one thing: #TrumpCare is an unbelievable bill.
It’s unbelievable that Republicans would vote to take away health coverage from 24 million Americans and force others to pay more for less.
It’s unbelievable that Republicans want to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.
It’s unbelievable that Republicans are willing to impose an age tax on older Americans.
Really, Speaker Ryan? “Nobody has a problem” with the Upton amendment?
We haven’t seen text of the Upton amendment yet, but here’s a quick look at what some Republicans have to say about it so far:
Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL): “I just reiterated to @HouseGOP leaders that #AHCA in its current form fails to sufficiently protect Americans with pre-existing conditions.”
This is something Republicans on the fence need to see: Rep. Upton admits he doesn't know if his OWN amendment will fix #TrumpCare's problems with pre-existing conditions (hint: it won't).
So far it appears that the third time is NOT the charm for House Republicans trying to bring TrumpCare to the Floor for a vote. Here’s a look at how things are going:
All of the time that Vice President Pence has been spending on the House side doesn’t seem to be yielding the results that GOP leaders are looking for on TrumpCare.