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 Affordable Care Act adopted five years ago yesterday is good for people, but it’s also good for the economy, and it’s been good for our budget.
Five years ago today, on March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, opening the door to quality, affordable healthcare to millions of Americans.
Five years ago today, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, opening the door to quality, affordable healthcare for millions of Americans.
This week, House Republicans unveiled their budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2016. Congress should be making the tough choices needed to grow our economy and expand middle-class opportunities for American families, while promoting fiscal responsibility.
Open enrollment for 2015 concluded last month, and 11.7 million Americans signed up for a plan during the three-month period.
Once again, the statistics for this year’s open enrollment period in the federal and state-based health insurance marketplaces demonstrate that Americans are taking advantage of the Affordable Care Act to access quality coverage for themselves, their families, and their employees.
On Monday, the President released his budget for Fiscal Year 2016. His budget proposal builds on the strength of our economic recovery to make smart investments that will increase our nation’s competitiveness, while ensuring that working families share in the benefits of the recovery.
Mr. Speaker, this House is about to hold its fifty-sixth vote to undermine or repeal the Affordable Care Act – which came to us, by the way, by route of the Heritage Foundation, as I think probably most of you recall.
Today, House Republicans will hold their 56th vote to undermine or repeal patient protections and cost savings that the Affordable Care Act has brought to millions of Americans.
Last week, I joined with federal and state legislators involved in passing the Affordable Care Act to file an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the case ofKing v. Burwell.