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 a number of looming legislative deadlines quickly approaching – including passing a long-term highway bill before October 29, paying our nation’s bills before November 3, and funding the government past December 11 – Republicans continue to waste time on partisan games.
Fifty years ago today, President Johnson signed into law legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid.
Today’s Social Security and Medicare Trustees reports offer mixed news. On the one hand, Medicare’s Trustees reaffirm that the Affordable Care Act is improving the program’s long-term sustainability.
WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) delivered the following remarks today at a press conference with House and Senate Democratic leaders, where he discussed today’s King v. Burwell Supreme Court decision and the need for Republicans to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank and take action on the Highway Trust Fund:
Today, the Supreme Court affirmed what those who wrote the Affordable Care Act already knew – that subsidies to help Americans afford health insurance premiums are to be made available to all Americans, whether they get their health care through the federal marketplace or through state-based marketplaces.
Today’s CBO report makes clear that repealing the Affordable Care Act, as Republicans have consistently voted to do, would explode the deficit, cause millions to lose their insurance coverage, and raise costs for seniors on Medicare.
This essentially will be the sixtieth vote – over the next two days, four days – on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
This National Women’s Health Week, take a look at how the Affordable Care Act is helping women across the country lead healthier lives by providing access to quality, affordable health care:
The President’s signing of the Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Act today represents a bipartisan victory for seniors, children, and doctors.
Whether we are for or against, the Congress is working today as the American people would have the Congress work. Speaker Boehner, Leader Pelosi, our extraordinary staffs on both sides of the aisle, and Members have come together and dealt with some difficult issues.