Health Care

Chris supported insurance reform because the cost of inaction is too great. For too long, women have often lacked insurance coverage that includes prenatal care and treats pregnancy as a preexisting condition. That care will now be covered by insurers. So too will screenings for cervical cancer and mammograms, among others, which until now insurers have not been required to cover, resulting in exorbitantly expensive out-of-pocket costs.

There will be help for businesses with workers who have been uninsured for months, or denied a policy based on “pre-existing” conditions. A high risk pool will offer insurance and assistance to help pay premiums to cover those workers. The legislation prevents insurance companies from charging more because of an employee’s health status, protecting our small businesses from unreasonable rate increases.

Many of those benefits will take place almost immediately. Also this year, seniors who have seen their prescription drug costs soar will receive a $250 rebate to begin closing the prescription drug “donut hole.” This loophole will eventually close completely.  Young adults who can’t find affordable insurance on their own can stay on their parents’ plan until the age of 26.  This bill also bars insurance companies from dropping people from coverage when they get sick and prevents insurers from placing lifetime limits on benefits. 

Seniors will see Medicare strengthened and protected. Insurers will be required to cover maternity care, a critical step to ensure the health of mothers and unborn children. This bill will also rightly continue the longstanding ban on public funding for abortion, a factor that weighed heavily on my mind in recent days.

All Americans will be able to have the same insurance choices enjoyed by Members of Congress and their families.

For those who cannot afford health insurance because costs have climbed too high, this bill provides tax credits that amount to the largest middle class tax cut for health care in American history.

Our nation has grappled with the effects of skyrocketing healthcare costs for decades. This reform deals with that in a fiscally responsible manner, reducing the deficit by $138 billion over the next 10 years and by an additional $1.2 trillion in the following decade.