House Majority Leader Hoyer Statement on the 10th Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON, March 24 -- House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, issued the following statement on the 10th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act:

"Ten years ago, Democrats fought hard to reform a deeply broken health care system. Refusing to accept a reality in which tens of millions of Americans had to go without insurance or were routinely dropped from their coverage as soon as they became sick, we enacted major legislation to ensure that quality, affordable health care would be accessible to all Americans, regardless of their income.

"That law, the Affordable Care Act, was the product of an enormous effort, which brought together the Obama Administration, Congress, state leaders, patient advocates, health care experts, and stakeholders from across our health care landscape, and together we achieved significant reforms that expanded access to coverage, brought costs down, ended discriminatory practices, and improved the health of so many Americans. As Majority Leader at the time, I was proud to work across the Democratic Caucus and with these stakeholders to reach consensus on legislation and bring it to the House Floor in 2009 and 2010.

"Now, as our nation faces an unprecedented public health challenge, we are all reminded just how critical it is for every American to be able to access high-quality health care. The Affordable Care Act wasn't perfect, and there are steps we can take to strengthen and build on it in order to make coverage accessible to more people and lower costs. But no one can dispute that it dramatically improved on the deeply flawed system we had before.

"As the Trump Administration and Republicans continue to pursue a complete dismantling of the Affordable Care Act in court as well as efforts to sabotage the law using executive actions, Democrats in Congress will continue to defend it. We will not allow these much-needed and very successful reforms to be undone. We will continue working to build on the Affordable Care Act and ensure that its benefits can be enjoyed by every American."