Health care reform needs to be a continuing conversation. We need to support health care innovation and new technologies to lower costs, and allow individuals to choose between public and private options. We must make it easier and more affordable for small businesses to provide health coverage for their employees.
Support health care reforms that preserve protections for pre-existing conditions, lower costs through innovation and new technologies, expand choice between public and private options, and make coverage more affordable for small businesses.
Occurrences
Evidence
We cannot go back to the days when someone could be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition... I support getting America to universal quality coverage and the best way to incentivize competition is to give people a choice between public and private coverage options. We must make it easier and more affordable for small businesses to provide health coverage for their employees. That’s why I fought for increased health insurance subsidies in the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act and am pushing to extend them beyond 2025.
Action: Ms. DelBene (for herself, Mr. Kind, Mr. Ruppersberger, and Ms. Kuster of New Hampshire) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means... Full Title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand and modify the credit for employee health insurance expenses of small employers.
Action: Mr. Courtney (for himself, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Ms. DelBene, and Mr. Estes) introduced the following bill... Full Title: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to count a period of receipt of outpatient observation services in a hospital toward satisfying the 3-day inpatient hospital stay requirement for coverage of skilled nursing facility services under Medicare.
Action: Ms. DelBene (for herself and Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill... Full Title: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to remove cost-sharing responsibilities for chronic care management services under the Medicare program.
I am committed to ensuring every American has affordable, quality health care... Americans with pre-existing conditions can no longer be discriminated against... That’s why I am a strong supporter of efforts to strengthen the law to expand coverage and address the high cost of prescription drugs. On the Ways and Means Committee, my colleagues and I put an end to surprise medical billing once and for all by creating a way for insurers and providers to handle billing disputes without harming patients.
Assessments
DelBene took concrete federal action matching several parts of the promise: she supported ACA pre-existing-condition protections, helped advance enacted affordability measures such as enhanced health insurance subsidies in the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act, points to committee work on surprise-billing protections, and introduced or cosponsored bills aimed at small-business health coverage and lower patient costs. However, the full promised reform package was not delivered federally: a public/private coverage option or public option was not enacted, and her small-business health insurance tax credit expansion and later cost-reduction bills were introduced but not enacted. This supports partial fulfillment in her same federal House tenure, with an effort badge because she made serious legislative attempts that did not fully achieve the promised outcome.
DelBene supported and pursued multiple components of the health care promise, including ACA pre-existing-condition protections, affordability subsidies, surprise-billing reforms, Medicare cost protections, and small-business health coverage tax credit legislation. Some pieces were advanced or enacted as broader federal reforms, but the full promised package, especially expanded public/private coverage choice and comprehensive affordability for small businesses, was not fully delivered. Because she made concrete legislative efforts on major elements of the promise, the effort badge is warranted.