Click here to watch "Voices of El Paso's Uninsured" (7 minutes)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi today unveiled H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care For America Act, a landmark bill that would provide affordable health coverage for tens of millions of uninsured Americans and lower health care costs.  Following the announcement, Congressman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) released the following statement on the legislation:

“This is a significant development for the thousands of El Pasoans without health insurance.  For nearly a century, our country has struggled to pass health care legislation to provide quality affordable coverage to all Americans.  Today’s announcement is the culmination of years of hard work, and reflects the commitment and determined leadership of the President and the Democratic Congress to follow through on a promise to help middle class families who have endured years of rising medical costs.

“For too long, insurance companies have been the gatekeepers to our health care system, with the power to dictate who receives health coverage and who does not.  Americans with preexisting conditions and serious illnesses are too often denied coverage or suddenly dropped from their existing insurance plans, and are unable to get medical care they need.  The Affordable Health Care for America Act will finally put an end to these practices, and reduce the skyrocketing health care costs that have consumed a greater portion of families’ budgets.

“This improved legislation takes into account the views and concerns expressed by many El Pasoans and millions of Americans who took an active interest in the discussion over how to best reform our country’s health insurance system.  Most importantly, this legislation is fully paid for, and does not add to the national debt but reduces America’s deficit by $30 billion in the first 10 years.  The bill exempts 86 percent of small businesses from a mandate to provide health coverage and further limits the ‘health care surcharge’ to only those individuals whose income exceeds $500,000 and $1 million for couples.

“As I have emphasized, health insurance reform is one of the most vital issues confronting our community.  Yesterday, my office launched ‘Voices of El Paso’s Uninsured,’ a seven-minute web video profiling four El Paso families struggling to pay their health care costs.  With over 230,000 people without health insurance in our community, thousands of El Paso residents experience financial hardship everyday due to medical costs.  The status quo is unacceptable.

“As I promised in my town halls in August and September, I have posted the full bill text on my website for the public to review.  My staff continues to remain available to answer any questions about the legislation.  I look forward to continue working on this vital issue to help make health care more affordable for all El Pasoans.” 

Additional Resources

Kaiser Family Foundation (www.kff.org) - Serves as a non-partisan source of facts, information, and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the public. The site includes fact sheets, issue briefs, reports & studies, and surveys/polls on health reform, such as a primer on health care costs, and how the middle class is currently burdened by health care costs. Kaiser also hosts www.statehealthfacts.org that can give tailored information about costs and statistics related to individual states.

National Health Policy Forum (www.nhpf.org) - A non-partisan organization devoted to health issues. This site includes a special section on health care reform featuring issue briefs, background papers and other publications on topics such as insurance exchanges and hospital payments.

Families USA (www.familiesusa.org) - A non-profit, non-partisan organization that provides information on the current health care debate, including the current high cost of health care coverage, and the impact of reform on children.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (www.rwjf.org) - The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is focused on improving health care through increasing knowledge, creating new ideas, and collecting evidence. This site provides research and information on health care reform, including polling, analysis on how to pay for reform and a briefing on employer mandates.
• Synthesis Project (www.rwjf.org/pr/synthesis.jsp) - A project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, producing briefs and reports that analyze and synthesize information on various policy questions, including the high cost of health care and tax subsidies for insurance.
• www.healthreform.org - Resource within the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation web site devoted to research on the current debate on health care reform.

Politifact.org - Affiliated with the St. Petersburg Times, this 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning web site is devoted to "sorting out the truth in politics." This site aims to debunk misinformation, including recent assertions on abortion and end-of-life care.