Working for Quality, Affordable Health Care For All

For those that don’t know, I was raised by my maternal grandparents. When I was nine years old, I was diagnosed with a serious childhood illness similar to spinal meningitis and spent three months in the hospital.

My grandparents had health insurance, but they weren’t allowed to list me as a dependent and their insurance wouldn’t cover my care. They were forced to make great sacrifices to pay for my health care.

I got better, and my grandparents looked for an insurance policy that would cover me. They discovered that, because of my previous illness, they couldn’t find such a policy. Not from any insurer. Not at any price. I was branded with the words “pre-existing condition.”

Millions of families have a loved one with a pre-existing condition and I want to make sure that no parent, foster parent or grandparent has to choose between helping their child get better or going bankrupt.

Guaranteed Protections for People with Pre-Existing Conditions

One of the ways I’m working to provide this critical economic security and peace of mind to families and patients is through a legislative reform I recently introduced. My Fair Care Act would block the Trump Administration’s proposed rule that would allow insurance companies to sell short-term, junk plans, and my reform would once again guarantee protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

The Urban Institute recently found that the steps that President Trump and Congressional Republicans have taken to date to sabotage the health care system, and allowing insurance companies to sell junk policies, would increase premiums and lead to more uninsured Americans.

In Wisconsin, premiums would go up by an average of 20 percent in 2019, and 130,000 more Wisconsinites would lack comprehensive health coverage in 2019 because they would either become uninsured or would be enrolled in junk plans that don’t provide key health benefits.

Congressional Republicans have pushed health care repeal, but promised they would protect people with pre-existing conditions. My Fair Care Act is an opportunity for lawmakers to keep their word on guaranteed protections for pre-existing conditions because we must ensure that no American is stuck with rising premiums and weakened health benefits.

Stabilize the Market and Lower Costs

In addition to taking on the Trump Administration sabotage of our health care system, we must do more to strengthen and stabilize the health insurance marketplace so that more people can gain access to quality, affordable health care.

My Advancing Youth Enrollment Act ensures that more than four million uninsured young adults could be eligible to receive additional financial support to help reduce their monthly premiums. Making health care more affordable for younger adults can help ensure that they sign up for coverage, which will help further stabilize the marketplace and lower costs for all.

This new reform would increase the value of premium tax credits for young adults ages 18 to 35 years old, which would result in more financial support to help them afford quality health coverage. Importantly, this protects older adults and those with pre-existing conditions from facing higher costs or seeing their current tax credits reduced.

Despite significant coverage gains, nearly 7.8 million 19 to 34 year-olds remain uninsured, including more than four million who are eligible for premium tax credits. Due to the Trump Administration sabotage that has caused premium increases and strained the health of the risk pools, we must incentivize young adults to enroll and to increase their access to affordable options.

I’ve also made a point to support bipartisan solutions that strengthens and stabilizes the health insurance market and improves access to health care. That’s why I cosponsored the bipartisan Murray-Alexander health care stabilization legislation and led the effort in the Senate to restore investments in enrollment outreach and in-person assistance. In-person assistance is especially critical to ensuring younger adults sign up for health care, which further helps stabilize the market and lower costs.

The people of Wisconsin did not send me to Washington to take people’s health care away, they want us to work together to make things better, not worse.

So I’m going to keep working to protect and expand coverage, and make health care more affordable. I’m eager to pass these critical reforms that will do right by American families.

Let’s get this done.