Rep. Bishop Issues Statement on Passage of Patient Protection & Affordable Care Enhancement Act

WASHINGTON, June 30 -- Rep. Sanford D. Bishop Jr., D-Georgia, issued the following statement regarding the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act:

"The Affordable Care Act changed healthcare for the better in America, but we still have more work to do to expand care and lower healthcare costs. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act builds on the progress of the ACA to protect people with pre-existing conditions, lower costs, and expand care.

"Improving our healthcare system, lowering costs, and expanding Medicaid is the right move for Georgians, particularly in the time of coronavirus."

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act:

* Lowers health coverage costs - dramatically expanding the ACA's insurance affordability subsidies to cover more middle-class families and to be more generous for those already receiving them. Many enrollees will see their premiums cut by half or more, and for the first time, no one will have to pay more than 8.5 percent of their income for a silver plan in the ACA marketplaces.

* Allows negotiation for lower prescription drug prices - gives the government the ability to negotiate lower drug prices so that Americans no longer have to pay more for our medicines than pharmaceutical companies charges for the same drugs overseas.

* Expands coverage - pressing Medicaid expansion hold-out states to adopt coverage for the 4.8 million Americans cruelly excluded from coverage, while restoring the outreach and advertising funding so Americans can learn about the affordable health coverage available to them under the ACA.

* Combats inequity in health coverage faced by minorities - expanding more affordable coverage to vulnerable populations and fighting the maternal mortality epidemic by requiring states to extend Medicaid or CHIP coverage to new mothers for a full year post-partum.

* Cracks down on bad plans & strengthens protections for people with pre-existing conditions - reversing the Administration's expansion of health insurance plans that do not provide coverage for essential medical treatments and drugs, and that are allowed to discriminate against people with pre-existing medical conditions.

A fact sheet on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act is available here (https://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/Affordable%20Care%20Enhancement%20Act%20-%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf).