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.
“I thank the Gentleman for yielding. What a perfect bill this is. Our Republican friends don't like taxes. They don't like the collection of taxes, and, of course, none of us do. And they don't like affordable care for our citizens, quality care for our citizens, accessible care for our citizens. So with this stroke, they can attack both.
“I want to thank Dr. Burgess, and I want to thank Mr. Butterfield for their leadership on this bill, but I certainly want to thank my friend, Dr. Phil Roe, who has been a delight to work with. It’s taken us a little bit of time, but we stayed after it. We have stayed after it because, as Dr. Burgess and Judge Butterfield have observed, this will save lives. This will save the lives of children – this will save the lives of children who do not know that they have an allergy which is life threatening.
“For the past forty-eight years, Medicare has enabled America’s seniors to live without the fear of being unable to access or afford quality health care. Democrats have proudly stood up in defense of Medicare and worked to improve it for generations to come.
"It is unfortunate that the Republican Majority has decided to waste the American people’s time by scheduling another vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. This will be the 40th such vote since health reform was enacted and began the process of slowing the growth of health care spending, ending insurance company discrimination against women and those with pre-existing conditions, and establishing health insurance exchanges to offer consumers a range of affordable choices for quality coverage plans.
MESSAGE FROM THE DEMOCRATIC WHIP
Today, I introduced legislation that would call for Congress and President Obama to fill the vacancies on the Election Assistance Commission, a bipartisan board that provides advice and counsel to states on best practices to carry out their elections and critical assistance to local election officials.
“I am glad the President highlighted the savings middle-class families are experiencing as a result of the Affordable Care Act. The health care law is already putting money back in the pockets of millions of Americans, including the 8.5 million who received rebates in 2012 from insurers under the new rule that 80% of premium dollars must be spent on care and not on administrative costs or overhead. In my home state of Maryland alone, 150,000 people received these rebates, with an average of $143 per family.
“This bill and the other bill are not real. They are purely partisan politics. They have nothing to do with reality. That, my friends and Mr. Speaker, the American people ought to know that is the truth. These bills take time [on the House Floor] with no effect, and everybody in this House, the Majority Leader and 434 of the rest of us know these bills are going nowhere.”
Today, House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) and Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN) applauded the Committee on Energy and Commerce on passage of the bipartisan School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act.
Over the coming weeks, students across the country will start preparing for the upcoming school year, looking forward to reuniting with friends, meeting their teachers and tackling new lessons.
“One year ago today, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will make quality, affordable health care accessible to millions of Americans.