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.
With the 115th Congress beginning this week and the President-Elect’s inauguration taking place in two weeks, Republicans have a responsibility to govern and get things done for the American people.
We think it’s time for someone to break it to Republicans: the American people don’t support your plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act without offering a replacement plan. From the Washington Post:
This new report ought to be alarming to all Americans.
As the 115th Congress convenes, and with Republicans in control of both the House and Senate, Republican leadership has made repealing the Affordable Care Act their first order of business.
The budget resolution introduced today by Senate Republicans represents a brazenly cynical use of the federal budget process to advance the political aim of repealing the Affordable Care Act.
Thank you very much, Leader. I appreciate your convening this call and including our leadership on there; the three committees are so relevant to what the Republicans are trying to do.
Wanted to be sure you saw today's op-ed by Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD), on CNN.com on Republicans' plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Today is the deadline to sign up for coverage through the health insurance marketplaces in order to be insured starting on January 1, 2017.
Repealing the Affordable Care Act – as Republican leaders in Congress have committed to doing in January of next year – would be a disaster for our country.
As the Republican-led 114th Congress comes to an end, it’s clear that this Congress has become yet another closed, unproductive, do-nothing Congress.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) made it possible for 20 million previously uninsured Americans to get covered, ended discrimination against women and those with pre-existing conditions, and slowed the rate of growth in health care costs to historic lows.