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Health Care

In America, health care should be a right for all, not a privilege for the wealthy few.

Unfortunately, Washington Republicans have cynically worked to sabotage Americans’ health coverage, needlessly driving up families’ premiums, while pushing devastating legislative and legal efforts to destroy protections for people with pre-existing conditions. The House Republican passed “Trumpcare” legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act (the American Health Care Act) would have pushed 23 million Americans off of health care, raised insurance costs for millions more, allowed insurers to impose what the AARP called an “Age Tax” on older Americans, and dismantled key protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration has made it harder to learn about and enroll in affordable comprehensive health insurance, and tried to push Americans into junk health insurance plans that do not have to cover essential health benefits and can discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions..

By contrast, Democrats have made lower health costs and prescription drug prices a top priority of our For The People legislative agenda.

House Democrats are fighting to protect Medicare and Medicaid, and ensure that every man, woman, and child has access to quality, affordable health care. That is why we enacted the Affordable Care Act: a historic law that ensures all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care and significantly reduces long-term health care costs. This landmark legislation is empowering millions of Americans with newfound health security and the personal and economic freedom it provides—giving more Americans the liberty to lead healthier lives and pursue their hopes, dreams and happiness.

WHAT DEMOCRATS ARE DOING

Democrats will build on the progress of the Affordable Care Act, reverse Republicans’ cynical health care sabotage, and continue to work in a bipartisan fashion to lower premiums and out-of-pocket costs for every American.

While the GOP Congress has handed massive tax breaks to the same big pharmaceutical companies hiking drug prices on seniors and families, Democrats are pressing for real action to lower prescription drug prices. Specifically, Democrats will:

  • Stop outrageous prescription drug price increases
  • Allow Medicare Part D to negotiate drug prices
  • Require drug manufacturers to publicly release hard data and information justifying any significant price increase

House Democrats continually work to implement and improve health care reform to ensure that the best health care system in the world only gets better. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act:

  • 105 million Americans have had a lifetime limit on their coverage eliminated.
  • Up to 130 million Americans who have pre-existing conditions can no longer be discriminated against by by insurers.
  • 6.1 million additional young adults up to age 26 now have health insurance.
  • Nearly 12 million seniors have saved more than $26 billion on their prescription drugs since 2010 – an average savings of more than $2,200 per senior.

The reforms in the Affordable Care Act have transformed the quality of coverage that Americans can expect from their health care plan:

  • If you are a young adult, you can now stay on your parents’ health plan until your 26th birthday, if you do not have coverage of your own.
  • If you are among 4 million eligible small businesses, you can receive tax credits if you choose to offer coverage to your employees – covering 35% of the cost of coverage.
  • Now, you can no longer be denied coverage by an insurance company for having a “pre-existing condition.”
  • Your insurance company can no longer place a lifetime limit on your coverage. Such limits have caused some families to declare bankruptcy.
  • If you are a senior, you are now receiving discounts on brand-name drugs if you enter the Medicare Part D ‘donut hole’ coverage gap – a discount that grows until the ‘donut hole’ is closed in 2019.
  • You can no longer be dropped from coverage by your insurance company simply because you get sick.
  • Your insurance company can no longer place restrictive annual limits on your coverage.
  • You now have free coverage of key preventive services, such as immunizations, mammograms, and other cancer screenings.
  • Your insurance company must now spend at least 80 percent of premiums on covering medical services – rather than administrative expenses, CEO pay, and profits.
  • Your insurance company must now publish on the Internet detailed justifications for any premium increases they are seeking that are more than 10 percent.

Learn more about what the Affordable Care Act means for Americans across the country:

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