Congressman Al Green Joins HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Democratic Members of the Houston Congressional Delegation at a Press Conference on Affordable Health Coverage in Houston
Press Release
(Houston, TX)--On February 14, 2014, Rep. Al Green (TX-09) joined Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius, Reps. Gene Green and Sheila Jackson Lee, as well as a local enrollee in the Health Insurance Marketplaces at the Hiram Clark Multiservice Center for a press conference on the Affordable Care Act. Secretary Sebelius made an announcement about efforts to enroll people in the Affordable Care Act. Rep. Al Green, along with his colleagues, encouraged people to continue signing up for coverage, commended local groups working to enroll people in the online federal marketplaces, and lauded the positive results of the Affordable Care Act so far. Congressman Al Green's statement is below:
"This January, we saw an additional 1.2 million people sign up for health coverage, bringing the overall total to an estimated 3.3 million people since the opening of the federal online market place.
"The Affordable Care Act is working and can work even better. It is working for senior citizens by closing the doughnut hole, which requires them to pay more for pharmaceuticals; it is working for persons under 26 years of age by allowing them to stay on their parents' insurance policies; it is working for people with preexisting conditions by allowing them to get insurance coverage; and it is working for all persons covered by providing them with preventative care.
"It can work even better if our state of Texas would accept the $100 billion Medicaid Expansion. This would provide healthcare to an additional 1.5 million Texans. It would work even better if Navigators are allowed to do their jobs and enroll more of the 2.4 million eligible uninsured Latinos. This could reduce healthcare costs.
"The Affordable Care Act provides healthcare that actually works for you before and after an illness, and it will work even better when we put people above politics."
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