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.
In September, House Republicans continued to waste time and taxpayer dollars by voting for the 53rd time to undermine or repeal the consumer protections, financial assistance, and expanded coverage options provided by the Affordable Care Act.
I’m Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer in the House of Representatives with an important message about your health insurance coverage next year.
Starting this past weekend, Americans began signing up for affordable health insurance plans for 2015 through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace.
Starting tomorrow, Americans will be able to shop for affordable health insurance for 2015 through the federal health insurance marketplace to renew their coverage or sign up for the first time.
Today's news that there will be no increase in the Medicare Part B premium or deductible shows that the Affordable Care Act is working to dramatically slow the growth of health care costs.
After House Republicans voted for the 53rd time to undermine or repeal the Affordable Care Act last week, here’s a look at how House Republicans have wasted time and taxpayer dollars on over 50 attempts to undermine or repeal the law that is already providing Americans with critical patient protections and health care benefits – rather than focusing on jobs and the economy, which they pledged to do.
Mr. Speaker, September should be a particularly important month for this House. It will be a month of contrast. It will be a month in which the American people will be able to see that the Republican message to the American people is ‘you're on your own,’ while Democrats say ‘we're on your side.’
Today’s announcement that 8.2 million seniors and Americans with disabilities caught in the Medicare Part D ‘donut hole’ have now saved more than $11.5 billion on prescription drugs since 2010 is further proof that the Affordable Care Act is working as intended to help seniors save money and see their benefits improved.
Today’s review by the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees affirms what we already knew. First, efforts to control health care cost growth – including the Affordable Care Act – are working.
This morning’s news that the Affordable Care Act has saved consumers a total of $9 billion on their health insurance premiums since 2011 is a further demonstration that the law is doing what it was intended to do: providing families with greater access to affordable, quality care.