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.
The People’s House must hear the People’s voice.
President Trump promised that Republicans would put forward a plan that would “have insurance for everybody,” which would be “far less expensive and far better” for the American people.
The bill that the Republicans have offered will literally have Americans paying more and getting less.
On Monday night, Republicans released their bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would kick millions of Americans off of their health coverage and force the American people to pay more for less coverage.
There were a number of dubious claims made during Chairman Brady’s opening remarks this morning; we’ll point out just two of the biggest whoppers below:
The hits keep coming for the GOP, as opposition to their #PayMoreForLess repeal bill continues to mount. Check out what the American Medical Association – an organization that knows a thing or two about health care – had to say:
Before tuning into the Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means Committee markups this morning, here’s another reminder that Republicans are rushing the process and have no idea what the impact of their bill will be, courtesy of Senator Mike Lee (R-UT):
As you read Speaker Ryan’s op-ed in USA Today this morning, we thought we’d offer a look at how Ryan’s rhetoric on the House GOP’s ACA repeal bill compares to reality:
Ryan: “The collapsing law is driving up health care costs and driving out choices for American families.”
Under the regular order that Speaker Ryan promised would govern the House on his watch, the proper procedure is for a committee markup on major legislation to take place after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has had an opportunity to analyze it and release an estimate of its cost and economic impact.
Well, thank you very much [Rep.] Cheri [Bustos] and thanks for the work that you’re doing on communications and making sure that the message gets out to the American people so they can take their views made to the Congress in an informed way.