Letter From Pete Visclosky on Healthcare

 

Dear Jim:

 

Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns regarding health-care coverage amid the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.  I appreciated hearing from you.

 

I share your concerns.  I have worked hard to preserve P.L. 111-148, the Affordable Care 

Act (ACA), and the positive expansion of health-care coverage across our country.  I am deeply concerned that repealing the ACA would endanger the health-care coverage of more than 20 million Americans who have gained coverage as a result of this law.  Additionally, without the ACA, insurance companies would be able to discriminate against 54 million non-elderly Americans with pre-existing conditions, place annual and lifetime limits on care, and lift annual insurance caps on out-of-pocket-spending.  This is unacceptable.

 

I would emphasize that the current public-health emergency highlights the pressing 

need to ensure that all Americans – including those who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 – have affordable, quality health-care coverage.  I am appalled that, on June 26, 2020, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to render the entire ACA unconstitutional.  Instead of repealing the ACA in the midst of a pandemic, I believe that Congress should work in a bipartisan fashion to strengthen our health-care system, including by expanding health-care coverage and reducing the cost of prescription drugs.

 

These are among the reasons why, on June 29, 2020, I supported and the House approved 
H.R. 1425, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act, by a vote of 234 to 179.  Subsequently, this measure was referred to the Senate, where it is currently pending consideration.  Among other provisions, H.R. 1425 would provide federal reinsurance funding to states in order to assist them in lowering premium costs in the state-based individual marketplaces created by the ACA.  This measure would also eliminate the income threshold for obtaining federal subsidies to cover insurance premiums for health-care plans purchased via the public exchanges while limiting premiums on these plans to no more than 8.5 percent of an individual’s income.

 

Additionally, H.R. 1425 would seek to reduce costs for Americans with health-care coverage via the public exchanges.  For example, it would cover the full cost of Medicaid expansion in the 
14 states that have yet to do so.  This measure would also empower the federal government to negotiate the price of prescription drugs under Medicare.  I would note that, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, if enacted into law, H.R. 1425 would expand health-care coverage to four million more Americans and make coverage more affordable for at 
least 13 million of our citizens.

Thank you again for contacting me.  Do not hesitate to let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Peter J. Visclosky
Member of Congress

You have received this email in response to an inquiry you submitted to Congressman Visclosky. If you would like to receive periodic updates from Congressman Visclosky, please send an email to pjv.newsletter@mail.house.gov with "subscribe" in the subject line, or go to www.house.gov/visclosky and join the e-newsletter.