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.
“Tonight, President Obama reminded Congress and the nation that what makes America great is the spirit of service and hard work that manifests from realizing we are all bound together by a common cause. ...
As President Obama prepares to deliver his last State of the Union address, here’s a look at the progress we have made over the past seven years:
"I was disappointed that Republicans adopted a motion to postpone until January 26 a vote to override the President’s veto of their bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood.
As we begin the new year and the Second Session of the 114th Congress, newly elected Speaker Paul Ryan has an opportunity to turn the page on the bitter partisanship of the past few years and show that he is willing to work across the aisle to get things done for the American people. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that “House Speaker Paul Ryan starting this month will push to turn the chamber into a platform for ambitious Republican policy ideas.” But evidence points to the contrary, with the first items on the House’s agenda for 2016 being the sixty-second vote to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act, the eleventh vote to attack women’s health, and several bills that would undermine consumer safety, workplace safety, and environmental protections. House Republican leaders know these bills will never become law, yet they continue to pander to the far right with political messaging bills instead of bringing substantive, bipartisan legislation to the Floor. It is also unfortunate that Speaker Ryan has already taken issues such as comprehensive immigration reform and an expansion of paid family and medical leave off of the table.
I was proud to join an amicus brief filed in the Supreme Court today by 162 Members of the House and Senate urging the justices to continue safeguarding women’s constitutional right to reproductive health care options, as enshrined by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
As we begin the second session of the 114th Congress, there are a number of critical issues the American people expect to see Congress address.
“Today, recognizing that the federal government cannot do nothing while thousands of Americans – including many children – are killed by gun violence each year, President Obama used his legal authority to take bold executive actions that will help keep dangerous firearms out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them while supporting research into mental health and safer gun technologies.
I was proud to join my colleagues in the House Democratic Leadership, along with Ranking Members Lowey, Scott, Pallone, Conyers, Slaughter, and Levin, in filing an amicus brief today in support of the Obama Administration’s implementation of healthcare cost-sharing reductions under the Affordable Care Act.
Hi. I’m Steny Hoyer, Democratic Whip in the House of Representatives, with an important message about health insurance coverage for 2016.
WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today on open enrollment for plans through the Health Insurance Marketplaces for 2016, which begins on Sunday: