Washington, DC — Tonight, at an address before a joint session of Congress, President Biden shared bold proposals to expand coverage and lower health care and drug costs for millions of Americans. Meanwhile, there have been significant moves on Capitol Hill, including Speaker Pelosi’s reintroduction of legislation (H.R. 3) to lower prescription drug costs. These actions show that health care is once again a top priority just as it remains at the top of issues Americans want Congress to address. And all this comes on the heels of months of progress on health care from Democrats and President Biden, including beginning to roll back the Trump administration’s sabotage of the ACA, opening a special enrollment period that has helped more than 800,000 Americans get covered, and passing the American Rescue Plan which lowers premiums and expands coverage to millions of Americans – a provision President Biden pledged to make permanent tonight. In response, Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement:
“Tonight, President Biden outlined bold proposals to further expand coverage and keep premium costs low for millions of Americans who buy insurance on their own and to lower the high cost of prescription drugs by giving Medicare the power to negotiate with drug companies. At the same time, Speaker Pelosi has reintroduced historic legislation to lower the high cost of drugs by giving Medicare the power to negotiate, and a broad array of House and Senate Democrats have proposed enhancements to Medicare.
“Health care is once again a top priority, which is only appropriate as it has consistently been the number one issue Americans want Congress to address, with the high cost of prescription drugs topping the list of health care priorities.
“In election after election, Democrats have run on expanding coverage and lowering the cost of health care premiums and prescription drugs, and voters gave Democrats control of Congress and the White House. Now it’s time for Democrats to deliver on a once in a generation opportunity to make health care more affordable and accessible for millions of Americans.”