Rep. Horsford Unveils Patient Protection & Affordable Care Enhancement Act

WASHINGTON, June 26 -- Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nevada, issued the following news release:

Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-04) unveiled new legislation to build on the ACA to lower health costs and prescription drug prices: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act. This legislation comes one day before the Trump Administration is due to file a brief asking the Supreme Court to strike down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act.

"While we continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, Nevadans need to know that their health care is protected and that the costs of their prescription drugs will no longer increase exponentially and prohibitively," said Congressman Horsford. "I'm working every day in Congress to lower the cost of healthcare for Nevada's families. We must pass this legislation speedily through the House and the Senate and urge President Trump to drop the dangerous lawsuit to destroy the ACA in the middle of the coronavirus crisis."

The bill significantly increases the ACA's affordability subsidies to be more generous and cover more middle-class families. For the first time, no person will have to pay more than 8.5 percent of their income for a benchmark silver plan in the ACA marketplaces, and many Americans will see their premiums cut in half or more:

* A family of four earning $40,000 would save nearly $1,600 in premiums each year.

* A 64-year-old earning $57,420 would save more than $8,700 in premiums each year.

* A single adult with income of $31,900 would see premiums cut in half.

* An adult earning $19,140 would see premiums cut to zero, saving $800 dollars a year.

The bill negotiates for lower prescription drug prices, delivering the power to negotiate lower drug prices so that Americans no longer have to pay more for our medicines than Big Pharma charges for the same drugs overseas.

The bill expands coverage, pressing Medicaid expansion hold-out states with new carrots and sticks to adopt coverage for the 4.8 million Americans cruelly excluded from coverage, while restoring the outreach and advertising funding that the Trump Administration has slashed to prevent Americans from learning about the affordable health coverage available to them under the ACA.

The bill combats inequity in health coverage faced by communities of color, 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 postpartum.

The bill cracks down on junk plans & strengthens protections for people with pre-existing conditions, reversing the Trump Administration's expansion of junk 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 provisions of 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.