Health Care

On March 23rd, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, providing coverage to 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, allowing students to stay on their parents' plans a little longer, saving senior citizens money by addressing the donut hole in Medicare, providing tax credits for working families and small businesses, and guaranteeing that women pay the same as men for health insurance. The law has already put money back in the pockets of millions of Americans, including the 190,000 residents of Minnesota's 8th District - some 39,000 children and 137,000 seniors - who are now eligible for health insurance or Medicare without co-pay, coinsurance, or deductible.

I am a Co-Chair of the Congressional Lung Cancer Caucus. Click here to learn more. 

The Affordable Care Act is an important first step, not the last, in our nation's quest for providing Americans with the assurance, security, and the peace of mind that accompanies quality, low-cost health care.

Affordable Care Act Fix

With that in mind, I have offered a bipartisan, common-sense solution to fix a burdensome cost associated with the Affordable Care Act - a bill I authored called the Health Care Fairness and Flexibility Act. Introduced in the 113th Congress with Rep. David McKinley (R-WV), it would implement a 3-year delay in the ACA's "transitional reinsurance program" that would force additional costs onto working families - and subjected employers who self-insure to expensive insurance fees. This program was designed to steady the cost of health care premiums for individuals in the exchanges, funded by charging all insurers a flat fee, even though the employees of self-insuring companies - including unions and many large businesses - don't benefit from this program. Our bill addresses this problem by delaying the fee, without delaying the program itself, giving employers more flexibility and time to comply with the law, and putting money back in the pockets of hardworking middle-class families.