Seventy-five years ago, Majority Leader Joe T. Robinson helped enact Social Security to ensure our seniors could live with dignity. Thirty years later, Representative Wilbur Mills led the charge to create Medicare and Medicaid so seniors and the poor could receive necessary medical care. Today, President Obama has signed into law an equally historic piece of legislation, building on these programs’ legacy of providing dignity, stability and care to Americans.
This health care reform law lays a solid foundation for more affordable, reliable and accessible health care. While 32 million Americans will gain health insurance, millions more will benefit from tax credits, more competition in the insurance marketplace, and meaningful steps to reduce the deficit. In addition, we all win with protections against abusive health insurance practices. Insurance companies will no longer be allowed to impose caps on lifetime coverage, drop insurance coverage because of an illness, or deny coverage because of a pre-existing condition. I am proud to be part of this monumental effort.
