Friday, November 15, 2013

Congresswoman Johnson Votes Against Legislation That Would Undermine Affordable Care Act

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson voted against the partisan bill H.R. 3350, “Keep Your Health Plan Act.” The proposal marks the 46th time House Republicans have moved to undermine the Affordable Care Act and put insurance companies back in charge of Americans’ health care.  Congresswoman Johnson had the following remarks regarding her reasoning for voting against this harmful bill:

“This legislation is not only misleading, it also does not mandate that insurance companies keep beneficiaries in their policies, so they can still be kicked off their insurance at any time. This bill was solely introduced to undermine the Affordable Care Act and allows health insurers to continue to sell low quality plans through 2014.

H.R. 3350 reverses several positive policies enacted by the Affordable Care Act. The bill would allow insurance companies to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, restore an annual cap on how much care a beneficiary can receive, and forces women to pay more than men for exactly the same coverage.

We cannot allow our citizens to become vulnerable by passing laws that will ultimately hurt them. We can, however, support targeted fixes to the Affordable Care Act when problems such as insurance terminations arise.”