Putting Americans In Control of Their Health Care

Overview of Health Reform

Health reform puts American families and small business owners in control of their own health care.

  • It makes insurance more affordable by providing the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history, reducing premium costs for tens of millions of families and small business owners who are priced out of coverage today.  This helps over 32 million Americans afford health care who do not get it today – and makes coverage more affordable for many more. Under the plan, 95% of Americans will be insured.
  • It sets up a new competitive health insurance market giving tens of millions of Americans the same choices of insurance that members of Congress will have.
  • It brings greater accountability to health care by laying out commonsense rules of the road to keep premiums down and prevent insurance industry abuses and denial of care.
  • It will end discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions.
  • It puts our budget and economy on a more stable path by reducing the deficit by more than $100 billion over the next ten years – and more than $1 trillion over the second decade – by cutting government overspending and reining in waste, fraud and abuse.

Health reform bridges the gap between the House and Senate bills and includes new provisions to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse. 

It includes a targeted set of changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Senate-passed health insurance reform bill.  Health reform reflects policies from the House-passed bill and the President’s priorities.  Key changes include:

  • Eliminating the Nebraska FMAP provision and providing significant additional Federal financing to all States for the expansion of Medicaid;
  • Closing the Medicare prescription drug “donut hole” coverage gap;
  • Strengthening the Senate bill’s provisions that make insurance affordable for individuals and families and increase protections for out-of-pocket costs;
  • Strengthening the provisions to fight fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid;
  • Increasing the threshold for the excise tax on the most expensive health plans from $23,000 for a family plan to $27,500 and starting it in 2018 for all plans.