Congressman Cohen Votes in Favor of Health Care Reform

Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 3590, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and H.R. 4872, The Health Care & Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, by votes of 219-212 and 220-211, respectively.

Congressman Cohen also released a separate video statement.

“The bills that we passed today will forever change the landscape of America’s health care delivery system for the better. The House has passed legislation that will extend health insurance to millions of Americans who don’t have it now, and will cover more than 95 percent of our country’s citizens with affordable, quality health plans. I am proud to have lent my support and input for this legislation.

The passage of these bills will help The MED through a provision in the reconciliation package, for which I fought vehemently, that increases the state’s diminutive Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payment. In January, I had the opportunity to speak to President Obama in a public forum about Tennessee’s unusual DSH payment situation. The President was receptive to my suggestions on behalf of Tennessee’s hospitals, especially The MED, and he promised to look into the issue. Under this provision, The MED will receive more federally directed funding than it does now, as it renders more uncompensated care than any other hospital in the state of Tennessee. Accordingly, Shelby County tax payers will reap the benefits of this provision, as they are the ones who foot the bill for the care that The MED provides to those patients who are unable to pay.

This legislation also invests heavily in our Community Health Centers. The $11 billion investment in these important neighborhood resources will go a long way in ensuring that every American, not just those who can afford it, can receive quality care. It incentivizes prospective doctors to go into the field of primary care and encourages them to practice where we need them most—in urban areas.

Tonight, we ensured that some of the most shameful practices utilized by health insurance companies will be forbidden. This legislation ends the practice of discriminating against patients based on pre-existing health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. Young Americans will be able to remain on their parents’ insurance plans until their 26th birthday, an important provision in such tough economic times when it’s becoming harder and harder to find a job. Insurance companies will no longer be able to drop a patient when he or she gets ‘too sick,’ and will bar them from being able to place an arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage a patient can receive over a year or a lifetime. This legislation also promotes preventive wellness care, expands Medicaid, improves and expands the solvency of Medicare, and increases payments to primary care doctors.

We have started to fill the Medicare prescription drug donut hole and afforded to seniors the ability to see their doctors, for free, every year for a wellness checkup. Seniors will not have to pay out-of-pocket copayments for preventive care, helping patients and doctors become more proactive about screening for things like cancer and diabetes.

All of this has been done with the most attention given to every single detail. We have managed to propose and pass a legislative package that is not only fully paid for, but actually stands as one of the largest debt reduction measures in years. The most respected and impartial budget scoring office in Washington, the Congressional Budget Office, released a new score for this legislation on Friday evening. The results indicated that this legislation will cut the deficit by $143 billion in the first ten years, and $1.2 trillion in the decade following.

Americans should be able to rely on their health insurance plans to cover them when they need that coverage the most. We pay insurance premiums for a reason: to ensure that we will have sufficient coverage when we get sick. Americans should not be forced to worry that they are one illness or injury away from lying in a hospital bed, worrying that their health care bills will bankrupt them and their families. It’s getting harder and harder for people to save a portion of their incomes every month, money they will use to send their children to college, to guarantee they will be prepared for retirement, to buy a home—not to pay thousands upon thousands of dollars for life-saving health care services that were deemed ‘over the limit’ by their insurers.”

H.R. 4872 also contained significant provisions regarding the educational system in America. Congressman Cohen further remarked on the legislation,

“Much of my work in the Tennessee State Senate is remembered through the establishment of the Tennessee Lottery to fund the Hope Scholarship, which provides funding to help students attend college. Increasing funding for Pell Grants, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), and Minority-Serving Institutions establishes the same goal.

“In an effort to improve education for all Americans, I am so glad the bill contains provisions that will expand student aid by investing $36 billion in the Pell Grant program. The bill also provides $2.55 billion for HBCUs and Minority-Serving Institutions and invests $2 billion in a competitive grant program for community colleges.”