Quality health care for Americans means:

• Affordability for the middle class
• Security for our seniors
• Stability and peace of mind
• Responsibility to our children by not adding to the deficit

This is what the Affordable Health Care for America Act means for you and your family:

• No discrimination for pre-existing conditions
• No dropped coverage if you become sick
• No co-pays for preventive care
• Yearly caps on what you pay
• No caps on what insurance companies pay
• The ability to keep your current doctor and plan

To view summaries of the bill, access facts sheets, and learn more about the work the committees who share jurisdiction over the bill are doing, click on the links below.

• Committees on Energy and Commerce
• Committee on Education and Labor
• Committee on Ways and Means

1. Ends insurance company discrimination. The Affordable Health Care for America Act will stop insurance companies from denying coverage to Americans with pre-existing conditions such as heart disease, cancer, or diabetes and from hiking up rate or dropping coverage for those who get sick.

2. Makes coverage more affordable. The House bill will rein in rising health costs for American families and small businesses by introducing competition that will drive premiums down, capping out-of-pocket spending, ensuring no more co-pays for preventive care, ensuring no yearly caps on what the insurance company will cover, and providing premium subsidies for those who need them. Tax credits will help small businesses cover their workers. Eliminating health status rating means they won’t pay higher premiums based on their employees’ health status.

3. Improves choice and competition. In most states today, one insurance company controls nearly half the market. To increase competition and keep insurance companies honest, the House bill provides those who must buy their own insurance the choice between private plans and a public health insurance plan. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that this public health insurance plan would save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

4. Ensures quality coverage for 96% of Americans. The CBO estimates that the House bill will result in health care coverage for 96% of Americans. This will lead to significantly reducing the current cost of providing uncompensated care for 46 million Americans and result in lower costs for everyone and savings to the economy.

5. Does not add one dime to the deficit. According to the CBO, the House bill reduces the deficit, while covering 96% of Americans with quality, affordable health care.

6. Improves our focus on wellness and prevention. The House bill will work to change the focus of our health care system from treating sickness to promoting wellness with several provisions such as eliminating out-of-pocket costs for recommended preventive services, strengthening community-based wellness services, and rewarding primary care.

7. Improves quality. The House bill ensures that it is doctors and patients—not insurance companies—making health care decisions. More family doctors and nurses will enter the workforce, helping guarantee access. It moves us toward a system rewarding the quality of care, for instance, through accountable care organizations and medical homes.

8. Strengthens Medicare. The House bill improves Medicare by extending Medicare’s financial solvency by five years, improving coordination of care and reducing errors for seniors with conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes, eliminating the prescription drug “donut hole” coverage gap over a period of years, and providing free preventive care and wellness check-ups.

9. Cuts down on fraud, waste, and abuse. The House bill will strengthen oversight and enforcement measures to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in the health care system, which is estimated to cost more than $60 billion every year.

10. Lowers costs over the long term. The House bill rewards care that prevents hospital readmissions, promotes doctors working together to coordinate your care better, cuts waste and fraud, invests in prevention and wellness, strengthens primary care, and reforms reimbursement to provide incentives for the quality—not the volume—of services.

(Prepared by House Democratic Leadership Offices)



The Affordable Health Care for America Act would provide significant benefits in the 13th Congressional District of Michigan. It would:

• Improve employer-based coverage for 241,000 residents.
• Provide credits to help pay for coverage for up to 153,000 households.
• Improve Medicare for 80,000 beneficiaries, including closing the prescription drug donut hole for 4,100 seniors.
• Allow 10,800 small businesses to obtain affordable health care coverage and provide tax credits to help reduce health insurance costs for up to 9,600 small businesses.
• Provide coverage for 71,000 uninsured residents.
• Protect up to 2,200 families from bankruptcy because of unaffordable health care costs.
• Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers by $235 million.

(Provided by the Speaker’s Office)


To find out about the town hall meeting I hosted on October 24, click here

I hosted a telephone town hall meeting on health care on August 12. Click here to listen a recording of the call.

I want to hear your thoughts on our health care system. To send me your personal story, suggestions, or comments, click here .