WASHINGTON – Congressman Alan B. Mollohan announced that he will support health care reform legislation scheduled for a final vote later today.

After weeks of intense negotiations, Mollohan and a handful of other pro-life representatives persuaded President Obama to accept key pro-life protections. Mollohan said that the dispute over abortion language was the last sticking point in his support for what he called “historic legislation.”

  “I am very pleased that we were able to achieve these pro-life protections and make sure that the Hyde amendment will remain the law of the land,” Mollohan said.

The Obama Administration accepted the pro-life provisions after a series of meetings between the pro-life Democrats and members of the White House staff this weekend. Mollohan also spoke personally with the President four times over the past week about the need for stronger pro-life measures. The President agreed to put the new measures into effect by issuing an Executive Order immediately after he signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law.

The Executive Order, which has the force of law, will extend Hyde amendment language prohibiting federal funding of abortion to the new Community Health Centers established by the legislation. It will provide “conscience protections” to pro-life health care providers and facilities that do not want to perform, pay for, or provide referral services for abortion. It will also ensure that the Hyde amendment applies to the health insurance exchanges established by the new law.

Mollohan said the late developments on pro-life protections cleared the way for passage of the health care reform bill. “This is the last opportunity we will have for a decade or more to achieve real reform in a broken health insurance system. It will make health care affordable for working families, increase benefits to Medicare recipients, rein in costs, and curb health insurance company abuses.”

The legislation includes a number of improvements to Medicare. “Seniors will be among the biggest winners when this bill is signed into law,” Mollohan said. “Unfortunately, there has been a great deal of misinformation about how it will affect Medicare. In fact, this bill will provide free preventive care for Medicare recipients, close the so-called Part D donut hole for prescription drugs, and extend the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund by a decade.”

The legislation will expand individual choice in insurance options, keep insurance companies from denying coverage to persons with cancer or other pre-existing conditions, ban annual or lifetime caps on benefits, and limit the amount that insurance companies can spend on administrative expenses and profits.

It will also establish a new health insurance exchange where anyone without insurance can comparison shop among various private plans. The legislation does not establish any government-run public option. All policies sold through the insurance exchange would be offered by private insurance companies.

“West Virginia’s small businesses are another group that will be helped by this package,” Mollohan said. “They’ll be able to shop for insurance coverage on the new exchange, giving them greater choice on coverage as well as access to the better group rates now available only to large employers.”

To make sure that working families can afford insurance, the legislation contains the largest middle-class tax cut for health care in history. For example, a family of four with a household income of $50,000 would receive a tax credit of approximately $5,800.

In West Virginia’s First Congressional District, the legislation will provide the following benefits:

● Improved coverage for 336,000 residents who currently have health insurance.

● Tax credits to offset the cost of health insurance coverage to 175,000 families and almost 12,000 small businesses.

● Improved Medicare benefits for 120,000 seniors.

The legislation is fully paid for and will actually reduce the deficit by more than $130 billion over the next decade.

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