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.
A year ago, the parents of a little girl in Ohio were worrying that they would soon exceed the lifetime limit on their health insurance. Taylor Wilhite had been diagnosed with leukemia at age 8, and her treatment — rounds of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, long hospital stays — had been stupendously expensive.
A year ago this week, President Obama signed into law the Affordable Care Act, or the ACA. The ACA gave families — not insurance companies — the freedom to control their own health care choices. Just a year after it became law, the ACA is making it easier for small businesses in Prince George's County to cover their employees, the law is taking important steps to bring down health care costs, and it's stopping insurance company abuses that bankrupt sick Marylanders or deny them coverage.
A year ago this week, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, giving families—not insurance companies—the freedom to control their own health care choices. Just a year after it became law, the Affordable Care Act is making it easier for small businesses to cover their employees, reforms in the law are taking important steps to slow the growth of health care costs, and the law is stopping the worst insurance company abuses, including making it illegal to deny care to children because of a pre-existing condition.
One year ago this week, President Obama signed the landmark health care reform bill into law. And now, American families are benefitting from new patient protections and greater freedoms. It is freeing children with pre-existing conditions and pregnant woman from discrimination by insurers. Young people have the freedom to stay on their parents’ insurance plan until the age of 26. And seniors have more freedom to get the prescription drugs and preventative care they need.
Just 12 months after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became law, the American people are enjoying new protections, greater freedoms and lower costs.
I support the repeal of the new 1099 reporting requirements, and have voted for their repeal in the past. But due to the manner in which this bill is paid for, I cannot support today’s legislation, as it would increase the burden on middle class Americans.
When Republicans took the House majority, they pledged to create jobs and immediately start cutting the deficit. But they still haven’t put forward a real agenda to create jobs or to address the deficit in a serious way. A look at the past two months shows Republicans have failed to address Americans’ top priorities:
I strongly oppose the Republican effort to defund the Affordable Care Act, which would take away critical new freedoms for consumers. The American people expect us to come together to create jobs and invest in our nation’s future. Yet the Republican spending bill—especially the amendments that would defund the health reform law and take away new consumer freedoms—makes the wrong choices for the American people.
The Affordable Care Act is giving the American people more freedom and control in their health care choices. This week, rather than putting forward an actual plan to create jobs, House Republicans are continuing their efforts to take away these freedoms in a misguided attempt to repeal the health reform law.
We need to cut spending but make critical investments that allow our nation to out-innovate and out-build our competitors throughout the world, and Republicans fail that test.