U.S. House Health Reform Bill Would Add Tens of Millions to Health Coverage

Report from Families USA Provides National and State-by-State Projections of Increases in Number of People Able to Obtain Health Coverage

Washington, D.C.- Health reform legislation moving through the U.S. House of Representatives would reverse the continued and growing loss of health coverage by American families and would give millions of Americans the security of stable, quality, affordable coverage, according to a report released today by the consumer health organization Families USA.

Titled "Coverage for America: We All Stand to Gain," and based on legislative analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the report says that the House bill would add health coverage for 23 million people in 2013, the first year of implementation, and 37 million by 2019, the last year for which the CBO provided data.

The Families USA report goes beyond CBO national figures, however, by providing state-by-state estimates of the increases in the number of people with health coverage in the key years 2013 and 2019. Under the House bill, every state will see a significant increase in the number of people with health coverage. The five states projected to have the largest gains in coverage are, in descending order:

• California: 5,337,000 by 2019; 
  
  
• Texas: 4,647,000 by 2019; 
  
  
• Florida: 2,982,000 by 2019;
  
  
• New York: 2,069,000 by 2019; and
  
  
• Illinois: 1,387,000 by 2019.

"The House health reform bill offers peace of mind to families across the country by guaranteeing affordable health coverage and care for virtually all Americans," said Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA.

"The House bill accomplishes this in several ways," Pollack said. "First, it stops insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing health conditions.

"Second, it offers substantial, sliding-scale subsidies so people can afford health coverage. Third, it limits the out-of-pocket costs families pay when a loved one gets sick. And fourth, it strengthens the safety net for our most economically vulnerable families.

"By extending and protecting health coverage," he said, "it will lower health premiums for those people who currently have insurance. It will do so by reducing the so-called 'hidden health tax' that gets tacked on to insurance premiums to pay for the care received by the uninsured—a hidden surcharge that averaged $1,017 for family coverage in 2008."

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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

1201 New York Avenue NW, Suite 1100 · Washington, DC 20005
202-628-3030 · Email: info@familiesusa.org · www.familiesusa.org