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Today, Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) joined his colleagues in the House of Representatives Committee on Ways & Means to approve H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.
“Our current health care system is unaffordable, unsustainable and unacceptable,” said Congressman Higgins. “This nation has been talking about health care reform since 1948. This bill is not our ultimate destination but a start, providing a path forward to the goal of high quality, low cost health care that puts patients first.”
Currently 46 million Americans and 13.6% of New York’s population are without health insurance and that number continues to grow. Recent economic conditions are causing an estimated 10,680 people in the US to lose their coverage every day.
“We spend $2.5 trillion, 17% of our Gross Domestic Product, on health care in America, yet Americans are no healthier despite the exorbitant costs,” Higgins added. “It is breaking businesses, individuals and the federal government, forcing families into bankruptcy and companies to choose between coverage and layoffs.”
Without reform, health care costs for the average family are expected to increase by $1,800 every year, reaching $24,000 annually by 2016, requiring families to spend approximately 45% of their income on health care.
“This bill provides a public, not-for-profit, health care option by eliminating expensive programs that aren’t working and modeled after successful programs unique to America, like those we see at the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic, that are not only working, but providing better outcomes more efficiently,” said Congressman Higgins. “People from Western New York travel to the Cleveland Clinic because the facility has a reputation for providing the highest quality care at the lowest cost, with this legislation we begin to replicate that model nationwide.”
The bill currently under discussion would: allow patients to keep their doctor and existing plan if they like it; eliminate co-pays and deductibles for preventive care; abolish rate increase for pre-existing conditions; cap out-of-pocket expenses; provide oral, hearing and vision care; end the practice of lifetime limits on how much insurance companies will pay; and close the Medicare Part D “donut hole.”
“In a nation like ours an infant mortality rate of almost seven deaths per thousand births is unacceptable and a symptom of a system that’s broken,” Higgins said. “The road to reform will require a cultural change in the medical industry, one where doctors and patients, not insurance companies, make the choices.”
The bill will also be up for consideration and approval in the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Education and Labor before it moves to the House floor for consideration by the full body. It is supported by a broad range of organizations including small business owners in the Main Street Alliance, the AARP, and the American Medical Association.
Congressman Higgins added, “On a daily basis my office hears stories of health care heartbreak suffered by Western New Yorkers who deserve better options, better care and a better chance at a good quality of life. This change is 60 years in the making, now we must move forward. We can’t lose this opportunity for vastly improved health care.”
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