Delauro Celebrates Final Legislative Step In Marking Health Care Reform Bill A Reality

Statement

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) today celebrated the final step in the passage of historic health care reform legislation package. The House of Representatives passed the Senate's version of the Reconciliation bill, which will make improvements that reconcile the differences between the House and Senate bills.

Congresswoman DeLauro said, "This is a great day. Not just for me, for Democrats, or even for the President, but for the American people--for individuals in every state, in every city, and in every town across this country who have struggled to afford what should be, and now is, a basic and guaranteed right: quality, affordable health care.

"Millions of Americans can no longer be denied their basic right to medical care. No longer will they be cruelly dropped from coverage if they get sick. No longer will pregnant women have desperately search for health plans with maternity coverage, no longer will the prescription drug "donut hole' be so large that it prevents seniors from getting the medicine they need, and no longer will so many thousands of Americans sicken and die as they wait for a health care system that is indifferent to their needs.

"We have been able to ensure that people like Jennifer, from my home state of Connecticut, will be able to afford the treatment for the diabetes she developed due to a lack of a simple preventive test, and will now be able to afford the multiple surgeries her child requires. Seniors will have relief from their prescription drug bills. I only wish these reforms could have come sooner, so that Celia, a young woman from East Haven, could have afforded to get the mammogram that might have saved her life.

"In my district alone, 467,000 residents will see improvements in their health care coverage. That's 19,500 currently uninsured individuals who will gain access to health care coverage and 58,000 young adults who will be able to remain on their parents policies until their 27th birthdays. That's 15,400 small businesses who will receive tax credits to help make health insurance affordable for themselves and their employees, and that's 1,000 families who will escape from filing bankruptcy due to medical bills.

"For 100 years, dating back to a promise by Theodore Roosevelt, we have fought to ensure that every American has access to quality, affordable health care, and today the House of Representatives has taken the final step in making that dream a reality."

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