Bill Text: TX HCR17 | 2017 | 85th Legislature 1st Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to preserve the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-07-24 - Referred to State & Federal Power & Responsibility, Select [HCR17 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HCR17-Introduced.html
85S10416 KSM-D | ||
By: Reynolds | H.C.R. No. 17 |
|
||
WHEREAS, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) | ||
is a landmark achievement that has enhanced the lives of millions of | ||
Americans by increasing both access to and quality of health care; | ||
and | ||
WHEREAS, Since the law's passage in 2010, more than 21 | ||
million people, including 1.7 million Texans, have gained health | ||
insurance coverage, dropping the nation's uninsured rate to a | ||
record low; while our state continues to lead the country with an | ||
uninsured rate 1.75 times higher than the national average, and | ||
although more than 4.3 million Texans still lack coverage, we would | ||
face an even greater problem without this important program; and | ||
WHEREAS, The ACA has benefited Texas families by improving | ||
the affordability of medical care; the law has required health | ||
insurance plans to include preventive services at no extra cost to | ||
consumers and extended mental health and substance use disorder | ||
benefits and federal parity protections to an estimated 62 million | ||
Americans; it has also helped close the Medicare coverage gap for | ||
prescription drugs, saving the program's enrollees in Texas nearly | ||
$1 billion; and | ||
WHEREAS, The law has prohibited a number of discriminatory | ||
practices in the health insurance industry that once precluded | ||
countless people from receiving coverage; in addition to banning | ||
annual and lifetime limits in policies, the law has barred insurers | ||
from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions and from | ||
rescinding policies for any reason other than nonpayment or fraud; | ||
moreover, insurers are no longer allowed to charge women higher | ||
premiums than men for the same coverage; and | ||
WHEREAS, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has | ||
revolutionized health care for the better, as more people now enjoy | ||
the security of health insurance than at any other time in our | ||
nation's history; though it is necessary to continue building on | ||
the law's success with improvements, it is paramount that we uphold | ||
this historic legislation for the millions who currently depend on | ||
it and for the generations to come; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas, | ||
1st Called Session, hereby urge the United States Congress to | ||
preserve the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; and, be it | ||
further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |