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Sunday, March 21, 2010

Health Care Reform Legislation Approved

The Resident Commissioner expresses his profound delight

WASHINGTON, DC- By a vote of 220 to 211, the House of Representatives tonight approved the health care reconciliation bill that will enable the great majority of uninsured Puerto Rico residents to obtain quality, affordable coverage, announced the Resident Commissioner, Pedro Pierluisi.

“I feel deeply honored to have participated in the creation of this historic legislation. But I must acknowledge that it pains me that I cannot vote in favor of this bill as a representative of the people of Puerto Rico. I hope that the day will arrive when we correct this obvious injustice,” said the Resident Commissioner, who remained on the House floor during the entire debate on the bill, which lasted more than ten hours.

“Today marked a critically-important step in the fight to reform the health care system in the United States. This bill will become law in a matter of days,” the Resident Commissioner added.

For Puerto Rico, the legislation will triple the amount the Island receives from the federal government for its Medicaid program and will give Puerto Rico access to the health insurance exchange.

Specifically, the reconciliation bill approved today will increase the annual federal spending cap for Puerto Rico’s Medicaid program by about 182%, which means that Puerto Rico should receive a total of $8.624 billion in federal Medicaid funding over the next nine years. In addition, the reconciliation bill allows Puerto Rico to establish a health insurance exchange and provides $925 million to subsidize the cost of insurance for Island residents of modest means who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. As soon as the Senate approves the reconciliation bill, which should occur within a few days, certain aspects of the bill will take effect almost immediately.



For example, beginning January 1, 2011, all seniors enrolled in Medicare will have the right to obtain preventive services without being required to make co-payments. Likewise, starting six months after enactment of the bill, all new private insurance plans will be required to cover preventive care without co-payments. Also starting six months after enactment, insurance companies will be prohibited from placing lifetime caps on coverage and will be limited in their ability to impose annual caps on coverage, with any such caps prohibited completely beginning in 2014. And, six months after enactment, the law requires insurance companies to allow children up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ insurance policy, at the parents’ request.

In addition, six months after enactment, no insurance company will be allowed to drop someone’s coverage because they get sick. And, beginning in 2014, no individual will be allowed to be denied coverage based on a pre-existing condition.


Finally, as part of the reconciliation bill, the House of Representatives approved the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which will provide more than $1.45 billion to Puerto Rico over the next ten years to improve access to higher education.