125th Morrison Congress

2nd Session

S. 125-013

Title of the Bill: Equal Health Care Opportunities Act

Main Author(s): Sen. Jonathan Lin (D-OR), Sen. Jane Kim (D-MD)

Co-Sponsor(s):

BE IT ENACTED BY THE MORRISON CONGRESS

1 SECTION 1: Findings
2 Congress makes the following findings:
3 1) More than 20 million Americans have gained coverage thanks to the
4 Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the number of uninsured Americans have
5 been cut almost in half. (I.)
6 2) Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid, and
7 Medicaid and SCHIP enrollment has risen 26 percent. (I.)
8 3) The money spent on health care has been the lowest in 50 years because of
9 the Affordable Care Act. (I.)
10 4) Discrimination based on pre-existing conditions is now illegal, and nearly 8 in
11 10 Americans who recently shopped for health insurance in the marketplace
12 could get it for less than $100 per month. (I.)
13 5) Reductions in health care cost growth due to health care reform could
14 increase job growth by 250,000 to 400,000 per year by the second half of this
15 decade. (II.)
16 6) If only one-third of the recent slowdown in health care cost growth persists,
17 the savings after a decade will amount to $1,200 per person, much of which
18 will show up in workers paychecks as higher wages. (II.)
19 7) CBO estimates that from 2023 through 2032, the ACA will reduce the deficit
20 by an average of 0.5 percent of GDP each year, corresponding to total deficit
21 reduction of nearly $1.6 trillion over that ten-year period. (II.)
22 8) Since 2010, more than 71 million Americans have received at least one
23 preventive service without cost-sharing. (II.)
24 9) Since the enactment of the ACA, 7.3 million Medicare beneficiaries have
25 saved an average of about $1,200 per person on prescription drugs. (II.)
26 10) The healthcare sector produced about 240,000 jobs per year between 2010
27 and mid-2014. Since then, it has averaged at 354,000/year and the sector is
28 currently producing about 500,000 jobs annualized. (III.)
29 11) The S&P Global Ratings analysis estimates that repealing the Obamacare
30 individual mandate will lead to about 4 million to 5 million more people
31 becoming uninsured by 2027 than otherwise would have been. (IV.)
32
 33 SECTION 2: Purpose
34 This bill ensures equal rights to quality and affordable healthcare for all people of the
35 United States, regardless of persons income, disability, and age.
36
37 SECTION 3: General Provisions
38 To ensure that everyone has equal rights to healthcare, this bill will allow the state
39 government to adjust the amount deductible according to a person and/or his/her
40 familys income.
41 Allow states to create a public option by expanding Medicaid eligibility to any
42 individual who wants to buy into the program.
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45 SECTION 4: Definitions
46 ACA: Affordable Care Act. Enacted by the 111th Congress and signed into a law by
47 President Obama in 2010. Also known as Obamacare.
48 SCHIP: State Childrens Health Insurance Program. A partnership between the
49 federal and state governments that provides low-cost health coverage to children
50 in families that earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid.
51 CBO: Congressional Budget Office
52 S&P Global Ratings: A global data collecting company whose parent company is
53 Standard & Poors.
54 Deductible: The amount you pay for covered health care services before your
55 insurance plan starts to pay.
56 Long term daily care: bathing, eating and dressing if a patient becomes severely ill or
57 disabled
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Works Cited:
I. https://www.democrats.org/issues/health-care
II. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/02/06/six-economic-benefits-affordable
-care-act
III. http://www.businessinsider.com/obamacare-has-been-good-for-the-economy-2016-5
IV. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/17/effects-of-obamacare-mandate-repeal-seen-as-less-dr
amatic-than-cbo-says.html