Newly elected Democrats keep campaign promise to tackle rising health care costs
100 days ago this week, a newly elected class of diverse and energetic Democrats was sworn into the U.S. House, unified by a commitment to getting real results for their constituents back home. To mark this milestone, the DCCC will be spending this week reminding voters just how much their new Representatives have already accomplished on their behalf.
For freshman Democrats and the voters across the country who elected them, no issue is more important than health care. Voters so firmly rejected Washington Republican’s repeated attempts to sabotage our health care system that even GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy admitted to his donors that Republicans’ devastating record on the issue cost them the majority.
While the GOP is once again making attacks on everyday Americans’ ability to afford quality health care their core message, freshmen Democrats have been busy making good on their campaign promises to tackle the rising cost of premiums and prescription drugs, and to protect the millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions.
Here’s just a sampling of these freshman Members’ work to lower health care costs and improve access to care:
MI-08: Fox 2 Detroit: Rep. Elissa Slotkin has plan to improve Affordable Care Act
By Fox 2 Staff
Michigan Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin is playing a big part in that bill just mentioned that would improve the Affordable Care Act.
…She is introducing the Health Care Affordability Act and she explains how it is different from the existing ACA.
“There are a lot of people with programs for the ACA but they have really high premiums and really high deductibles,” she said. “It helps do two things – one, make it more affordable and two, it helps protect people with pre-existing conditions. It says you will never spend more than 8.5 percent of your income on health care.”
MN-02: Jordan Independent: Congresswoman Craig among democrats launching bill to protect ACA benefits
By Meg Britton-Mehlisch
Members of the U.S. House Democratic leadership and freshman class, including Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, announced a health care bill intended to lower health care premiums and ensure people with pre-existing conditions can get coverage.
…Craig said her own childhood was colored by a lack of access to health insurance, an experience that connects her with many of her constituents today. A Kaiser Family Foundation Analysis estimated about 22 percent of non-elderly adults in the Twin Cities metro live with a pre-existing condition.
“I know what it’s like to grow up in a household where the box of bills piles up and the worry grows,” she said.
Earlier this month, Craig introduced her first piece of health care legislation, the State Health Care Premium Reduction Act. The bill intends to lower individual insurance premiums through the creation of a $10 billion reinsurance fund for state use.
NJ-03: Philadelphia Inquirer (Op-Ed): SAVE Act would help Pa. and NJ residents with preexisting conditions
By Rep. Andy Kim
…As a freshman member of Congress, I promised to get things done. As a father and a son, I have a deep obligation to stand up for my family, and families like mine.
It’s why I’m not only standing up to this administration’s attempts to undermine health care for millions and protect the coverage that so many people depend on every day, it’s why I’m working across the aisle to strengthen it.
Together with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), I have introduced the State Allowance for a Variety of Exchanges, or SAVE Act. This is a bipartisan effort that gives states such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania the resources they need to establish their own state-based health-care exchanges.
NM-02: Albuquerque Journal: Torres Small’s bill aims to reduce doctor shortage
By Scott Turner
U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small has introduced a bill she hopes will address the doctor shortage in rural parts of New Mexico.
Torres Small, D-N.M., introduced The Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2019 along with representatives from Alabama, New York and Illinois, legislation they hope will help reduce nationwide physician shortages, with an emphasis in rural areas, by increasing the number of Medicare-supported residency positions by 15,000. There are currently 90,000 positions.
Torres Small said the money would be increased to add 3,000 residencies a year over a five-year period.
“I know adding 3,000 residency positions a year won’t solve all of our problems,” she said. But she said something needed to be done with a projected shortage of 100,000 doctors nationwide by 2030.
NV-04: Las Vegas Review-Journal: Horsford, Reed move to address prescription drug prices
By Gary Martin
An issue where political leaders said they could find common ground — lowering prescription drug prices that have soared in recent years — is being addressed by two House lawmakers who filed a bipartisan bill Wednesday modeled after a Nevada law to cut costs of insulin for diabetic patients.
Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., and Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., filed legislation in the House, styled after a bill signed into law in Nevada in 2017 to keep the cost of insulin down for those with diabetes.
“I’m glad to bring Nevada’s model to the national level,” said Horsford, adding “too many families are being forced to choose between refilling a medication and putting food on the table.”
The Stop the Pharmaceutical Industry from Keeping Drugs Expensive, or SPIKE, Act would require drug manufacturers to publicly justify large price increases and initial prices for high-cost drugs.
NV-03, NV-04: NBC Las Vegas: Our DC Dems say they’ll fight to keep ACA
By Jeff Gillan
The president is hoping the courts do what Congress could not: scrap the Affordable Care Act — all of it.
…“Any attempt by this administration to defund or sabotage the ACA simply is wrong and we are going to fight him every step of the way,” Horsford told me.
…Congresswoman Lee says it’s time to stop fighting it, and start fixing it.
“What I would like to see more is rather than threaten to tear it apart is bring us to the table and have some serious bipartisan conversations about how we can solve some of those sticky problems,” she says.
NY-19: The Daily Gazette: Delgado proposes public health insurance option
By Stephen Williams
U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado is co-sponsoring legislation that would introduce a “public option” into the choices available to consumers under the Affordable Care Act.
The bill, which he co-sponsored with representatives Brian Higgins, Buffalo, and John Larson, D-Connecticut, would offer a government option in the individual and small business health insurance exchanges, using Medicare physician networks and reimbursement rates, and coverage standards set under the ACA.
“It is unacceptable that despite being the wealthiest country in the world, the United States is the only developed country without universal health care,” said Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, who represents the 19th Congressional District. “This has been a top priority for me in Congress, and I’m proud to lead my colleagues in introducing a bill to finally give us universal coverage.”
PA-07: Allentown Morning Call: Lehigh Valley’s Susan Wild part of House Democratic push to fix the Affordable Care Act
By Laura Olson
Lehigh Valley Congresswoman Susan Wild is co-sponsoring part of the U.S. House Democrats’ sweeping new proposal to strengthen the decade-old Affordable Care Act, seeking to fix a loophole that has locked some families out of affordability provisions in the law.
Wild’s proposal, part of a broad bill Democratic leaders unveiled Tuesday and also a standalone measure, would target what’s known as the “family glitch.”
…“Quality, affordable health care is the right of every child, woman and man in our country, not a privilege just for those fortunate enough to have it,” Wild said. “As part of our efforts to make this principle a reality, we need to build on the successes of the ACA, and ensure that every American can get health coverage, protect people with pre-existing conditions, and lower the rising cost of health care.”
TX-32: Dallas Morning News: House Democrats, led by Dallas Rep. Colin Allred, pressure Republicans over Trump plan to gut Obamacare
By Tom Benning
House Democrats are ramping up pressure on Republicans in Texas and beyond over President Donald Trump’s surprise support in recent days for a lawsuit that would eliminate Obamacare in its entirety.
Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, is leading the squeeze.
…“I’m proud to lead this resolution to assure Americans that this Congress will not allow protections for people with pre-existing conditions to go back to the bad old days, when they were thrown off their health care when they got sick,” Allred said at a rally in front of the Supreme Court.
…Allred has emerged as a key Texas voice on health care, having authored in January a different resolution to allow the House to intervene in court in support of Obamacare. Pelosi even lauded Allred for “taking the lead on this issue from Day 1 in Congress.”
VA-07: Culpeper Star-Exponent: Spanberger aims to protect people with pre-existing conditions
By Star-Exponent Staff
To cut health-insurance premiums and protect Central Virginians with pre-existing conditions, U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger helped introduce legislation Tuesday to stabilize the Affordable Care Act.
Her bill would make health care more affordable, strengthen tax credits, steady the ACA marketplace, and stop insurance companies from selling junk insurance, Spanberger’s office said.
…“Right now, Central Virginians need certainty—not the threat of a hyper-partisan, misguided lawsuit undermining their affordable coverage,” Spanberger said. “… [T]his bill reiterates our commitment to fight for our neighbors—not fight for special interests or the whims of a particular political party.”
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