Senate Finance Committee Chairman Introduces America's Health Future Act

Today, Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced health legislation to lower costs and provide quality, affordable health coverage to millions of Americans. This legislation would insure more than 30 million Americans, expand Medicaid, and would make it easier for working families to purchase health insurance.

Specific provisions in the bill would:

• Create health care affordability tax credits to help low and middle income families purchase insurance in the private market;
• Provide tax credits for small businesses to help them offer insurance to their employees;
• Allow people who like the coverage they have today the choice to keep it;
• Reform the insurance market to end discrimination based on pre-existing conditions and health status ;
• Eliminate yearly and lifetime limits on the amount of coverage plans provide;
• Create web-based insurance exchanges that would standardize health plan premiums and coverage information to make purchasing insurance easier;
• Give consumers the choice of non-profit, consumer owned and oriented plans (CO-OP);
• Standardize Medicaid coverage for everyone under 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

Health insurance reform cannot wait. New numbers released by the Department of Health and Human Services show that the number of uninsured increased from 39.8 million in 2001 to 46.3 million in 2008. In today's dismal economy, even more Americans are losing their insurance when they lose their jobs. Even individuals who have health insurance are struggling. In Texas, workers have seen their insurance premiums rise from $6,638 to $12,271, a 91.6 percent increase which far outpaces the 19.7 percent increase in wages.

Health insurance reform will provide quality, affordable options to individuals without insurance, and give security and stability to those who already do.

I will continue to keep you up to date on this issue at it progresses.