Health Insurance Reform
Health Insurance Reform
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the historic Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148). Democratic and Republican presidents for the last 100 years have attempted to achieve comprehensive health insurance reform, and I am humbled to have been part of the effort to finally make it a reality.
This new law is meant to put Coloradans in charge of their own health care, provide a sense of stability and security, and ensure individuals can choose their coverage plan and their health care provider. This new law will finally start to reduce the ever-increasing costs for consumers, small businesses and the government by taking critical steps to address the runaway growth in health care costs, which are the biggest driver of our spiraling federal deficit. The law's provisions will also make it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, and it will give Americans the freedom to change jobs or start a business without the fear of losing coverage for their family. It is my hope that never again will a Coloradan be forced to declare bankruptcy because they are unable to pay for their necessary medical expenses.
Over the course of the health insurance reform debate, I carefully considered each proposal that came before the Senate. After hearing from thousands of Coloradans, on both sides of this issue, and closely reviewing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, I believe this new law will improve our health care system. For example, under the Senate plan, over 68,000 small businesses in Colorado will be eligible for a tax credit to help them offer health coverage to their workers. The legislation will also bolster access to care in rural areas, strengthen and improve Medicare, and significantly lower the cost of prescription drugs for over 100,000 Colorado seniors who annually reach a gap in coverage for their Medicare Part D benefits.
When this law is fully implemented, over 826,000 Coloradans without coverage today will be able to purchase health insurance through a new insurance exchange, and more than half of them will qualify for new tax credits to help make policies more affordable. This new law also puts a renewed focus on wellness and prevention to help stop chronic disease before it starts, by ensuring that Americans won't pay out-of-pocket costs for critical preventive services. This will be welcome news to all Coloradans, including 25 percent of Colorado women over the age of 50 who didn't get their recommended mammogram last year.
The new health insurance reform law is designed to build on what works and fix what does not. I am the first to admit that the legislation we passed here in Congress is not perfect - no bill is ever perfect. But in taking ideas from both political parties, it is a solid foundation on which we can build in the future. These health insurance reforms will insure 95 percent of Americans, and the neutral Congressional Budget Office estimates they will reduce the federal deficit by $143 billion in the next 10 years and help cut the debt by over $1 trillion in the decade after that. I believe that new government programs should be paid for without adding to the federal budget deficit, and this was an important requirement for me.
In addition to these major developments, I am particularly pleased that this new law contains provisions I authored to encourage innovation and help ensure that health insurance reform doesn't leave rural America behind. This includes the Rural Physician Pipeline Act, legislation I introduced in August 2009 to increase the number of physicians who practice in underserved rural communities. This provision will help medical schools establish training programs aimed at recruiting students to practice in rural areas, modeled after a successful program at the University of Colorado. The new law also contains a provision I proposed that would ensure rural communities get their fair share of federal funding to help prevent and reduce chronic health conditions, like asthma or diabetes.
In addition, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes a package of amendments that my fellow freshman Democratic colleagues and I introduced to improve the legislation by reducing costs. One of my contributions to this package was an amendment that would expand the role of a new advisory task force to examine not just the Medicare program but the health system as a whole. This task force will now make recommendations to improve quality in the entire health care system, not just government programs, to make it more efficient and less costly for our country.
I also believe that reform of the health care system should go hand-in-hand with reform of the legal system, which is why I filed an amendment aimed at improving the medical malpractice system. My amendment was designed to give state courts new tools to reduce the cost and complexity of malpractice lawsuits in a way that is fair for both plaintiffs and defendants. Streamlining procedures so that medical malpractice disputes can be resolved in the courts equitably and efficiently, will save money and enhance the confidence of both patients and doctors. While I am disappointed that this amendment was not included in the final law, I strongly believe we must continue to look for opportunities like this to reform our legal system and other aspects of health care delivery to benefit Colorado's patients and providers alike.
Throughout this long process, it's been important to me to ensure Coloradans can review the legislation considered here in the Senate. As legislative text and information has become available, we have posted it here on my website, along with summaries and in-depth analyses to help you understand what health insurance reform means for you. Now that implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is underway, I know that Coloradans will have even more questions about this new law, and I will continue to make my office a resource for you and work to ensure we have an open and honest debate about federal policies facing Congress.
Text of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act & the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act
- Full Text of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148)
- Full Text of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (P.L. 111-152)
Summary
Immediate Benefits & Implementation Timeline
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Tricare 26
Expanding Health Coverage for Our Military Families: As part of health insurance reform, which was signed into law March 2010, young adults will soon be eligible to remain on their parents' health insurance policies up to age 26. Recently, I introduced the TRICARE Dependent Coverage Extension Act (S. 3201), to make certain that families of our armed service members are not left behind when this provision is implemented. Extending insurance to cover young Americans until age 26 is critical, especially as they make the transition into the tough job market. This important bill would ensure that this same benefit is available to young adults in families who get their coverage through the TRICARE program - the Department of Defense health insurance program for military service members, retirees, and their families.
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Rural Physicians Pipeline Act
Included in health reform as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), this amendment (#2955) is designed to address the shortfall of rural physicians by creating a grant program to help expand rural training programs at medical schools. Of Colorado's 47 rural counties, all but three are designated by the federal government as "health professional shortage areas." Now that it is part of law, my hope is that this provision will help train "home-grown" doctors with a real, personal interest in the health of their communities. A 2008 study found that if all medical schools enrolled just 10 students per class in a program like this, we could double the number of graduating rural doctors.
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Emphasizing Prevention and Wellness in Rural Communities
This amendment (#2953) would expand a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that creates a new Community Transformation Grant (CTG) program to help prevent and reduce chronic disease in communities around the country. In order to ensure that big cities are not getting a disproportionate share of this important funding, my amendment requires that these grants be distributed equitably between both rural and urban areas.
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Independent Payment Advisory Board
This amendment, which I offered as part of a package (#3119) drafted by 11 freshman Democratic Senators, expands the scope of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (formerly called the Independent Medicare Advisory Board). My amendment directs the board to examine not just Medicare but the entire health care system to find ways to slow the growth of health costs - including steps the private sector could take voluntarily. The provision is based on comments I've heard from groups in Colorado and around the country, ranging from AARP to business to labor organizations, as well as suggestions from the Congressional Budget Office on how best to contain costs.
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Cures Acceleration Network
In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has focused its efforts on the development of "blockbuster" drugs for conditions like hypertension or high cholesterol that will be assured a large market once they are approved. But not all treatments can be "blockbuster drugs" in terms of their lucrative profit potential, and we need to make sure we're incentivizing the development of life-saving treatments for diseases and conditions that can improve and preserve the lives of all Americans. To help push us in that direction, I co-sponsored an amendment (#2866) authored by Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, which was successfully included in the Senate health reform bill signed into law by President Obama. This amendment is designed to set up a new public-private program at the National Institutes of Health, which would provide grants to encourage companies to develop drugs and treatments that may not be huge money-makers.
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Office of Minority Health
In Colorado, much like the rest of the nation, minorities have higher incidences of diabetes, childhood obesity, dental disease, childhood asthma, and other ailments. Many face obstacles to care, including geographic, cultural and language barriers, racial bias, and poverty. This amendment (#2878), which I co-sponsored with Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, strengthens and codifies into law the Offices of Minority Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. These offices are critical to monitoring health care trends and quality of care among minority patients in order to evaluate the success of minority health programs and initiatives.
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Modernizing Health Services for Indians
I co-sponsored this critical amendment (#2923) offered by the Chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, which reauthorizes and modernizes the Indian Health Service. This amendment, among other important provisions, will modernize health care delivery systems, address the shortage of medical professionals in Indian Country, promote disease prevention and wellness efforts, provide resources to address mental health disparities, and work to reverse the increasing rate of Indian youth suicide.