CBC Hour: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. FUDGE. Thank you so much. And I want to thank Representative Christensen for continuing to host this hour. Thank you very much for your leadership.

Mr. Speaker, for far too long, hardworking Americans have paid the price for policies that handed free reign to insurance companies and put barriers between patients and their doctors. We all want to be in charge of our own care, and it is not too much to ask. The Affordable Care Act forces insurance companies to be responsible, prohibiting them from dropping your coverage if you get sick or billing you into bankruptcy because of an annual or lifetime limit.

For the first time, under Federal law, insurance companies are required to publicly justify their actions if they want to raise rates by 10 percent or more. The law also bans insurance companies from imposing lifetime dollar limits on health benefits, freeing cancer patients and individuals suffering from other chronic diseases from worrying about going without treatment.

The law also ensures that everyone pays their fair share and gets affordable insurance because, when people without insurance get sick, the costs get passed down to the rest of us. Despite other claims, you can keep the coverage you have if you want it, or, if you like your plan, you don't have to keep it. You can pick an affordable insurance option so that you can take responsibility for your health and your family's health.

Having everyone take responsibility for their own care started as a Republican idea, but unfortunately they have abandoned it in an effort to dismantle the new health care law. We know that the American people strongly support what the new health care law does, even though Republican rhetoric has encouraged many not to support the law. When you ask about specific provisions, you get a much clearer picture.

According to a poll done by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 85 percent of people support the discount seniors will get in prescription drugs, which began this year. Seventy-nine percent support subsidies to help low- and moderate-income people buy insurance, which is scheduled to start in 2014. Seventy-eight percent support tax credits to small businesses to offer coverage to workers. The credits are available starting this year. Seventy-one percent of people support prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions, a provision that goes into effect in 2014. Sixty-six percent support making insurers meet a threshold of spending on actual medical care as opposed to administrative costs and profits. This provision goes into effect this year. Sixty-five percent support the law's provision making some preventive care services free to Medicare beneficiaries. It's now in effect. I won't keep going, but I could, Mr. Speaker.

Americans support the provisions of the Affordable Care Act because it gives them the reins. It gives them the ability to choose, not the insurance companies. Americans overwhelmingly agree that the health care system we had before was broken.

The Affordable Care Act is already helping millions of Americans as well as small businesses. 105 million Americans have had the lifetime limit on their coverage eliminated. Seventeen million children who have preexisting conditions can no longer be denied coverage by insurers. Two and a half million additional young adults now have health insurance through their parents. 360,000 small employers used the small business health care tax credit to help them afford health insurance for 2 million workers in 2011. $2.1 billion is the amount that seniors in the doughnut hole have already saved on their prescription drugs. That's an Average of $604 per senior.

Another fundamental element of the law is the support it provides to community health centers. The Affordable Care Act increases the funding available to 179 existing community health centers in Ohio alone. Health centers in Ohio have received over $53 million to create new health center sites in medically underserved areas and enable health centers to increase the numbers of patients served. The funds can be used to expand preventive and primary health care services. And for so many Ohioans, including my constituents, community health centers are absolutely vital.

For many reasons, this law will improve care and make Americans more healthy. It helps us keep costs under control, encourages prevention, and lets American families focus on things other than whether they will be able to get the type of care they need or go bankrupt. This bill saves lives.

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