Washington, D.C.—The congressional leadership today released the contents of the final health reform legislation that blends the best elements from the already passed House and Senate bills. The final package will be considered by the U.S. House in the next few days, and shortly thereafter by the U.S. Senate. The following is the comment of Ron Pollack, Executive Director of the health consumer group Families USA, about this development:
“The newly blended House and Senate health reform package will be very helpful to America’s families in the years ahead. It will strengthen pocketbook protections and improve the availability of affordable, quality health care for every American—whether they are insured or uninsured.
“The most helpful features of the proposed changes include: improved tax incentives so that health care is more affordable for middle- and moderate-income families; the complete elimination of the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap for seniors and people with disabilities; the prevention of unreasonable premium increases by insurance companies; and a stronger Medicaid program with increased payments to primary care physicians and states.
“The combined legislation achieves something that is truly remarkable: expansion of health coverage for 32 million people while eliminating waste and inefficiencies that help to reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion in the first 10 years and approximately $1.2 trillion in the following decade.
“We urge Congress to move expeditiously to pass this historic legislation that will protect the well-being of America’s families and our economy.”
