Washington, DC – Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) issued the following statement on the official introduction of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

“This announcement marks an historic step forward in our efforts to bring about comprehensive health insurance reform that will rein in spiraling costs and ensure that all families have access to quality, affordable health insurance.

The Affordable Health Care for America Act will prohibit private health insurance for discriminating against patients with pre-existing medical conditions like diabetes and cancer and put a stop to insidious practices as gender rating, where insurance companies charge higher rates for women, and rescissions, where companies use loopholes in their plans’ fine print to drop coverage for patients who become sick.

For seniors who rely on Medicare, the bill improves access to primary and preventive care, reduces drug costs by closing the "donut hole", and extends the solvency of the program. In addition, it promotes innovation, wellness and prevention in health care and eliminates the insurance company practice of placing arbitrary and unfair annual caps on health care coverage. The bill also takes major steps to eliminate waste, fraud, and overpayments to private insurance companies. And it does all of these things in a fiscally responsible fashion that will reduce our deficit.

I am also glad to see that many of the transparency and accountability provisions of my bill, the Informed Consumer Choices in Health Care Act of 2009, have been included in today’s legislation. And I am particularly glad to see that H.R. 3962 includes a public option for American families. The public option will serve as a quality and affordable choice alongside a variety of private plans within the Health Insurance Exchange, a one-stop comparison-shopping marketplace for consumers. In short, the public option will inject real and much-needed competition into the health insurance market.

I am proud of the hard work we have put in so far on this legislation, and I look forward to seeing the Affordable Health Care for America Act pass the House in short order. The many American families struggling with skyrocketing health care costs or lack of coverage have waited too long already for comprehensive health insurance reform. It is time for us to pass H.R. 3962, and make it the law of the land.”