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Healthcare
George co-wrote the historic health care reform law that will give every American access to affordable, quality health care. He helped strengthen Medicare by reducing fraud and he strongly opposes the Ryan Republican Budget that would turn Medicare into a private voucher system.
Healthcare Reform
George is proud to have been a primary co-author of the Affordable Care Act – the law that will make affordable, quality health care accessible to all Americans for the first time in our history. He strongly opposes the repeated efforts by the Republican majority in Congress to repeal the law and the important and popular patient protections it provides. Under the Affordable Care Act, never again will insurance companies be able to deny coverage based on a so-called pre-existing condition – or charge a different rate based on race or gender. And they will not be able to simply stop paying claims after you get sick, the way they do today.
As chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, George fought to include provisions in the law to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare. These anti-fraud provisions have already saved taxpayers more than $4 billion. George urges his constituents to carefully review information about the law and how impacts them. For many constituents, including seniors, the law has eliminated co-payments for preventative care. In addition, the law guarantees every child dental, hearing and vision benefits, and allows young people to stay on their parents' plan through age 26.
There are many other benefits from the law. To learn more, visit Healthcare.gov.
Medicare
George understands that Medicare is a crucial health safety net for our nation’s seniors that should never be taken away. During the last two years, he’s fought to against the effort to end Medicare as we know it. Medicare is a promise to our seniors that must never be broken.
The Republican majority in Congress is pushing the Ryan budget plan that would cost seniors $6,400 more per year for the same care they receive today, would ration health care for seniors, and would end the guarantee of Medicare. The Wall Street Journal says the plan “would essentially end Medicare." George voted against the Ryan Republican budget both times it was brought up in the House during the 112th Congress. He believes we must work together, in a bipartisan manner, to make sure Medicare is sustainable for seniors in the future and sustainable for taxpayers but never end the guarantee of Medicare for seniors.
Instead, George is fighting to keep the Medicare Trust Fund solvent, to keep in place life-saving patient protections, lower costs for seniors and to ensure that patients and their doctors – not insurance companies – make decisions about patient health. In fact, under the Affordable Care Act, millions of seniors have already saved an average of $600 per person on their prescription drugs. And millions more have received a free preventative screening appointment with their doctor.