Protecting Your New Freedoms Under the Affordable Care Act

A White House Press Release

As you may know, Republicans in the House of Representatives recently unveiled a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act and take away all the new freedoms and control it gives you over your health care decisions.

A snapshot of what Americans would lose if the healthcare law is repealed:

Protections Against Insurance Company Abuses

The law implements a new Patient’s Bill of Rights that would go away under repeal -- leaving Americans to once again worry about: losing their insurance, or having it canceled unexpectedly if they are in an accident or become sick; insurance companies raising premiums by double-digits with no recourse or accountability; insurance companies denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition, charging women more than men for their health care, and limiting the amount of care people can receive, even if they need it.  

Deficit Reduction

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that repealing the law would add over a quarter of a trillion dollars -- $230 billion -- to the deficit in the first decade, and more than a trillion dollars in the second decade; increase the number of uninsured Americans by 32 million; increase premiums for large employers; and will force consumers who buy coverage on the individual market to pay more out of pocket for fewer benefits.

Jobs

According to a recent report by Harvard Economist David Cutler released by the Center for American Progress, repealing the law would significantly increase costs and reduce job growth. It would  “…revert us back to the old system for financing and delivering health care and lead to substantial increases in total medical spending” and prevent 250,000 to 400,000 jobs from being created annually over the next decade.

In fact, since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, the economy has created over 1 million private sector jobs. Slowing the growth of health care costs, as the Affordable Care Act does, will have the likely impact of creating more jobs since businesses will have to spend less on health care for their employees, potentially resulting in 300,000 additional jobs.

New Medicare Benefits

If the law was repealed, over 2.7 million Medicare beneficiaries would see higher prescription drug costs because they would no longer receive a 50% discount on brand name prescription drugs in the donut hole coverage gap this year. Tens of millions of seniors on Medicare would also be denied critical free preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies, that went into effect on January 1, 2011. And the Medicare Trust Fund will become insolvent in 2017 -- 12 years earlier than it would have under the law.

Help us spread the word to your friends and family. Repealing the Affordable Care Act takes this country back to the days when there was no protection against insurance company abuses, adds to the deficit, and interrupts job growth. We simply cannot afford it.  

To learn more about the law, visit www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform.