Rep. Tonko, House Approve Bill to Make Health Coverage More Affordable

WASHINGTON, June 30 -- Rep. Paul D. Tonko, D-New York, issued the following news release:

Congressman Paul D. Tonko voted to advance H.R. 1425, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act, legislation that builds on the Affordable Care Act to make health coverage and prescription drugs more affordable for millions of Americans.

"As America's COVID-19 case numbers continue to hit record highs, our work to ensure all Americans have access to quality, affordable healthcare is more important than ever," Tonko noted. "Protecting and expanding health coverage has long been our priority, and I am proud to stand with my colleagues in the House to advance this critical legislation. We will continue our work to lower health costs and prescription drug prices and ensure our families have the support needed weather this storm."

Among other things, H.R. 1425 significantly increases ACA affordability subsidies to make them more generous and cover more middle-class families. For the first time, no person will have to pay more than 8.5% 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 President and his team should be ashamed."

Tonko stood outside the Supreme Court over the weekend in a video condemning the Trump Administration for renewing its push for the nation's highest court to strike down the ACA, which would strip protections from 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions and take away health coverage from 23 million Americans, with no replacement plan and in the middle of a nationwide pandemic.

"The President may not be able to see it from behind the miles of metal fencing he put up around the White House, but the American people are hurting," Tonko added. "Denying those most in need of access to affordable care, such as individuals with pre-existing conditions, adds to that hurt and takes away the support necessary for them to overcome this COVID-19 challenge. This Administration has tried this again and again, and each time the American people have rejected their efforts. We need improvements, not repeal and certainly not the chaos of a repeal with no plan to replace it or manage the devastation this would cause for countless American families. The President and his team should be ashamed."

OTHER PROVISIONS IN H.R. 1425: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act

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.

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.

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 post-partum.

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).