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.
Well, the bill keeps getting worse and worse and, of course, the deficit reduction the Republicans were claiming has now been halved by the changes they made.
If Republican leaders were hoping that the Congressional Budget Office’s cost and impact estimate for their amended health care bill would make any Member more likely to support it, I suspect they are now sorely disappointed.
The Republicans are a deeply divided party and have been so for six years. They have great, great difficulty reaching consensus on important pieces of legislation.
As we all sit here and wonder whether there will be a vote today, here’s a quick look at how negotiations are going:
Just so we’re all clear on what Republicans are talking about taking away from the American people in order to buy more votes, see below for a handy Twitter post from NPR. We’re not just talking about maternity care and mental health services, the list of “essential health benefits” also includes very basic benefits like doctor visits, hospitalization, emergency services, prescription drugs, and more.
A new Quinnipiac poll shows Americans disapprove of #TrumpCare 56 to 17%. That’s right – only 17% of Americans support the GOP’s plan. GOP leaders should take note: not only is the plan wildly unpopular with their own Members, but the vast majority of the American people aren’t for it, either. From the poll:
In their efforts to win over the House Freedom Caucus – who continue to move the goal posts, apparently – GOP leaders are losing some of their moderates. Another look at Republican whipping efforts from The Hill:
We'll follow regular order, they said. We're going to be open and transparent, they promised. But in a last ditch effort to pass TrumpCare, House GOP leaders are negotiating in the dark of night with the House Freedom Caucus to win them over before tomorrow's vote.
Some rough headlines this morning for our Republican friends. On the day they were planning to vote on their TrumpCare bill, GOP lawmakers are still far from reaching a consensus. Despite late night back room dealing, and “small tweaks” to take away Essential Healthcare Benefits (you know, basic things like hospitalization, emergency room services, maternal care), Republican leaders cannot find the votes to pass TrumpCare. Here’s a look at how their whipping effort is playing out:
Clearly, they don't have the votes now because the President is working it very hard and the Republican leadership is working very hard, and they are making changes that we are not sure what the changes are.