In the News
By Diana DeGette and Fred Upton
The National Institutes of Health is in the business of curing diseases. For more than a century, NIH scientists have improved American lives by making important discoveries that benefit public health.
By Diana DeGette
Trumpcare was defeated and the Affordable Care Act saved from repeal last month thanks in large part to the American public. They spoke out passionately on behalf of the ACA in phone calls and emails to their members of Congress. They raised their voices at events like the community forum in Denver where 1,000 of my constituents showed up, the rally that I held where 500 people attended and the listening session where men and women of all ages told their stories about how the ACA has changed their lives for the better.
Congress can forge common ground on health care, from targeting high premiums in certain states to negotiating down drug prices, but only if President Trump and Republicans refuse to revive an Obamacare repeal plan that fell apart last week, a senior House Democrat said Wednesday.
Rep. Diana DeGette, Colorado Democrat, said if she could negotiate a landmark medical cures bill with Republicans in the middle of a bitter campaign last year, then compromise is still within reach despite longstanding partisanship around the Affordable Care Act of 2010.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump can't solely blame Colorado for the failure of Republicans on Friday to pass — or even try to pass — an overhaul of the Affordable Care Act.
But the state's reaction to the bill is indicative of why the proposal collapsed one day after Trump threatened lawmakers with a do-or-die ultimatum to either pass it or live with the current health care law, better known as Obamacare.
WASHINGTON -- The sudden death of legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act has created an opening for voices from both parties to press for fixes to the acknowledged problems in President Barack Obama's signature health law, as lawmakers and some senior White House officials appealed for bipartisanship.
But the White House, still smarting from a disastrous defeat on Friday, appeared uncertain on the path forward. President Trump predicted that "Obamacare will explode" and offered no plan to stop it, but his was not the only voice from the White House.
With a House vote looming, it's still not too late to take a sensible approach to healthcare in America by seeking bipartisan solutions rather than outright repealing the Affordable Care Act.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has confirmed that under the American Health Care Act, more than 24 million people will lose health insurance in the next decade, 14 million of them in 2018 alone. And those who are lucky enough to hold onto their coverage will be forced to pay more for it.
A report out Friday from the Brookings Institution says it is likely the Congressional Budget Office will estimate more than 15 million people would lose health care coverage under the new House GOP bill.
The CBO is expected to release its projections Monday on how many people might lose health insurance, and how much premiums and out-of-pocket costs might amount to under the American Health Care Act – the bill House Republicans have put forth to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat representing Denver in Congress, is among many who are disappointed with the new GOP plan to replace Pres. Obama's Affordable Care Act.
"This bill is so bad from start to finish I could go on for hours about it," said DeGette.
DeGette is one of the authors of the so-called Obamacare. Although she acknowledges that it has problems, she believes the Republican plan will make things worse.
Back in Denver after a 27-hour marathon committee meeting on Republicans' Obamacare replacement, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette said she is "mystified" that Republicans are pushing forward with a bill that most analyses show will cause health insurance to become less available.
"I'm talking to a lot of my Republican colleagues, and privately a lot of them will admit these things are problems, but they all marched off the cliff together in the Energy and Commerce Committee," she said. "… They were really joining hands and jumping off a cliff together."
WASHINGTON — Three days after Republicans introduced their plan to re-do the Affordable Care Act, reaction among members of Colorado's congressional delegation generally has split along partisan lines — though there's been a greater range of responses from its GOP lawmakers.