Issue Position: Securing Quality, Affordable Health Care for Connecticut Families

Issue Position

The Affordable Care Act is good for the middle class, for small businesses and for the economy, and we are a better and stronger country because of it. It ensures that Americans have access to quality, affordable health care while reducing the long-term costs of health coverage.

Insurance companies can no longer discriminate against you and your children because of a pre-existing condition. They can't drop you when you get sick and they have to take everyone -- without charging you any more. They now have to cover maternity care, preventive care, and wellness care -- that make us healthier and save us all money. They can no longer impose life-time limits that kick-in when you need it the most.

Being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition. Rosa fought passionately to provide for the health needs of women in this health care reform, and all American women will gain from this fight. No longer are insurance companies allowed to treat having had a child or a c-section, or being the victim of domestic violence, as a "pre-existing condition," nor can they continue to charge individual women up to 50 percent more for the same coverage.

The Affordable Care Act ended the power insurance companies yield over doctors and patients and over responsible and working Americans. Middle class Americans no longer have to fear being dropped by their insurance companies when they need it most. Health care reform also improves Medicare and provides prescription drug coverage seniors need. These reforms extend the life of Medicare and begin to fill the doughnut hole in coverage that leaves so many seniors vulnerable.

The Affordable Care Act helps all Americans to afford health insurance, starting with young people. Young people are able to stay on their parents' insurance policies until they are 26. In addition, 32 million Americans without insurance are able to afford coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act.

Rosa has been a champion of one of the most important public health measures --health labeling for food in restaurants. Rosa worked with the National Restaurant Association to get agreement on labeling of all items in restaurant chains, so consumers can make healthy and informed choices.

No one should have to choose between health care coverage and financial security. Rosa knows that health care reform is a smart investment, not just for our health, but for our economic well-being. She is proud to have supported the historic health care legislation passed this year, and she is committed to continuing the fight to secure quality, affordable health care for every American.

Biomedical Research
Rosa is a leading advocate for funding biomedical research. As a 26-year ovarian cancer survivor, it is an issue she holds close to her heart. She has lead efforts to fund studies supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Rosa has worked endlessly raising awareness of the need to invest in this work to save lives and also to create jobs. Every $1 invested in the NIH has been found to result in an additional $2 of business activity.

Source