White House Health Care Talking Points

White House Health Care Talking Points

Topline Points on the Benefits of Enacting Health Insurance Reform

Support for the Bill

· Members of Congress who were opposed to the bill are stepping forward to say they now support this health insurance reform legislation that will rein in insurance companies, lower costs, help small businesses and reduce the deficit.

· And we’ve seen support pouring in from all around the country – from newspapers like the National Catholic Reporter and the Washington Post, to advocacy groups ranging from LULAC to the Federation of American Hospitals. So far more than 250 groups representing doctors, nurses, consumer groups, clergy, small businesses, farmers, seniors, young people and more—all are raising their voices to say that the time to enact health insurance reform is now.

The health insurance reform legislation that Congress will vote on this weekend puts American families and small business owners—not the insurance companies—in control of their own health care. The bill:

· Makes health insurance affordable for the middle class and small businesses—the largest tax cut for health care in history – reducing premiums and out-of-pocket costs.

· Gives millions of Americans the same private insurance choices that members of Congress will have — through a new competitive health insurance market that keeps costs down.

· Holds insurance companies accountable to keep premiums down, prevent denials of care and coverage, including for pre-existing conditions.

· Improves Medicare benefits with lower prescription drug costs for those in the ‘donut hole,’ better chronic care, free preventive care, and nearly a decade more of solvency for Medicare.

· Reduces the deficit by more than $100 billion over next ten years, and by more than one trillion dollars; ending overpayments to insurance companies, reining in waste, fraud and abuse, paying for quality over quantity of care.

In addition, the legislation unveiled yesterday makes important improvements to the bill passed by the Senate last December—a bill that is built upon the principles the President has been outlining all year. The new provisions improve that legislation by:

· Providing the biggest middle class tax cut for health care in history and makes health insurance even more affordable for middle class families

· Strengthening consumer protections

· Further reducing the deficit in the first and second decades—the biggest deficit reduction effort in more than a decade

· Closing the gap in prescription drug coverage for seniors covered by Medicare, known as the donut hole, and extends the solvency of Medicare

· Expanding health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans, guaranteeing that 95% of Americans will be covered

Largest deficit reduction in more than a decade

That health insurance reform legislation cuts the deficit by more than $100 billion in the first ten years (2010 – 2019) and by more than one trillion dollars in the second ten years. And that the improvements made to the Senate bill have made meaningful increases in the cost-control and deficit reduction impact of the legislation.

· The new CBO estimate finds that health insurance reform will reduce the deficit by over $100 billion in this decade and by more than $1 trillion over the following 10 years.

o If enacted, this would be the most significant deficit-reduction package passed into law in over a decade.

o And it will begin to transform our health care system into one that delivers higher quality at lower cost, boosting the bottom lines of American businesses, families, and the federal government — all the while providing those with health insurance with new choices and a host of new consumer protections and expanding coverage to 32 million Americans.

· By paying for itself and more, this legislation represents an important break from the way Washington has done business recently: we are now paying for what we propose.

· The CBO score should leave no doubt that we are operating in a new fiscal era — one where we abide by our commitment to pay for new initiatives and take steps to restore fiscal responsibility by reining in the single biggest driver of our long-term shortfall.

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