I am proud to report that today the Senate passed The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, landmark legislation that makes quality, affordable health care a reality for every American and reduces the deficit. This is a prize that has eluded Congresses and Presidents going back to the Roosevelt administration – the Teddy Roosevelt administration. It is an achievement on par with passage of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare in 1965.
And now we know why it took so long. To say that the fight for health reform was difficult would be an understatement. It was a battle, pitting incredibly powerful special interests against the will of the American people, nearly all of whom believe our broken system needs to be fixed.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act cracks down on pervasive abuses by health insurance companies – abuses that deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions and leave many Americans one serious illness away from financial catastrophe. It prohibits insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefits, ends discriminatory policies against women, increases competition and covers 31 million uninsured Americans. And it takes steps to transform America into a genuine wellness society, shifting the focus from patching people up after they get sick to keeping them healthy in the first place.
While we still need to conference with the House of Representatives and send the final bill to the President, I am hopeful the bill will be signed into law in early 2010. Below is a list of benefits that will kick in immediately:
• If you are uninsured with a pre-existing condition, our bill will give you access to affordable coverage, without discrimination.
• It immediately bans rescissions — the abusive practice whereby health insurance companies can cancel your existing insurance policy if you get sick.
• It prohibits insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefits, and it will restrict the use of annual limits.
• It requires coverage for proven preventive services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, with no co-pays, deductibles or out-of-pocket payments from policy-holders.
• It requires insurers to permit children to stay on family policies until age 26.
• If you are a small-business owner, our bill will offer tax credits of up to 35 percent of employer contributions toward premiums in order to make it more affordable for your employees to have health insurance.
While this bill makes real and immediate improvements, it is not perfect. I think of the current health reform bill as something of a “starter home.” It is not the mansion that some might have wanted. But it has a solid foundation, giving every American access to quality, affordable coverage. It has an excellent, protective roof, which will shelter Americans from the worst abuses of health insurance companies. It has room for the improvements and additions which will surely come. And maybe best of all, it’s a home we can afford. The Congressional Budget Office confirms that the legislation fulfills President Obama’s pledge not to add a dime to the deficit. Indeed, it will reduce the deficit by $132 billion in the first decade, up to $1.3 trillion in the next decade.
We can learn one final – and hopeful – lesson from the history of Social Security and Medicare. Those programs originally pitted Democrats against Republicans, left against right. But, today, they are hugely successful programs that enjoy overwhelming bipartisan support. I predict the same success and eventual bipartisan support for this set of reforms, which creates a health care system that works not just for the healthy and the wealthy, but for all Americans.
Your Senator,
Tom Harkin
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