On Tuesday, March 23, President Obama will sign into law The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act – the most significant health insurance reform measure since Medicare was established more than 40 years ago.
After careful consideration of the plan, a year of debate, and thousands of conversations with the people of New York’s 7th Congressional District, I ultimately voted in favor of this measure. While the bill is not perfect, it has clear and substantial benefits for Queens and Bronx families.
First and foremost, it ensures that American families come first when it comes to accessing health care coverage. For far too long, the health insurers’ bottom line, not the health and well-being of the American people, was the driving force behind decision-making in health coverage. Under the new plan, insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage or raising rates because of a person’s age, gender or if they have a pre-existing condition (such as cancer, diabetes or asthma). Children and young adults will also be allowed to remain on their parents’ insurance plans until the age of 26.
Second, it will help to rein in costs. The skyrocketing rise in health care costs have put U.S. businesses, large and small, at a disadvantage with their foreign competitors, and it’s caused them to reduce benefits and cut jobs. The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act goes to the heart of this problem by providing small businesses with tax credits to offset the costs of providing health insurance to their employees and holding insurance companies accountable for unreasonable rate hikes by requiring them to justify premium increases. All told, health reform will contain costs, maintain people’s benefits and reduce our nation’s deficit by $138 billion over the next 10 years.
Third, it expands Medicare benefits by eliminating all deductibles and co-pays for preventive medicine, while also closing the gap in prescription drug coverage in the Part D program. The gap will immediately be cut by $250 and will be phased out completely by 2020, ultimately saving seniors $3,000 per year.
There is no doubt that this reform measure is not perfect. But, like any significant change in policy, it will always be a work in progress, and we will make necessary changes as we move forward. In the meantime, thousands of New York families will have improved access to health care and greater peace of mind.
I know many New Yorkers will have questions about health reform. I have posted numerous fact sheets on my website at www.crowley.house.gov to help people get the facts, and my staff is just a phone call away.
