Editor’s note: On March 23, the 11th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., senior member of the Senate Finance Committee who helped pass the comprehensive health care reform law, released the following statement on the progress made by the ACA and the new health care measures taken under the Biden administration.
Eleven years ago today, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) became law, and our nation took a monumental step to expand health care coverage and protections to families across the country.
In the years since, over 20 million more Americans, including tens of thousands of Delawareans, have been able to access affordable, quality health care coverage. It helped cut Delaware’s uninsured population nearly in half. And thanks to the ACA, Americans can no longer be denied coverage due to a preexisting condition. I’m proud to be a strong defender of this landmark legislation.
Now, under President Joe Biden’s leadership and with Congress’ help, our country is taking significant steps to strengthen the ACA and make comprehensive coverage more affordable, especially during the pandemic. Within the first month of his administration, President Biden reopened the health care marketplace for a special open enrollment, and within just the first two weeks, over 200,000 Americans signed up.
Earlier this month, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, which, aside from speeding up our vaccine distribution, will also lower health care premiums for millions of current marketplace enrollees to ensure that no enrollee spends more than 8.5% of their income on premiums, irrespective of what they earn, as well as eliminate premiums altogether for many low-income individuals for two years.
For 11 years, we have strived to improve upon the Affordable Care Act to ensure our health care system delivers better health outcomes. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to continue to build on the great progress made by the ACA and, as good leaders always do when something is not perfect, we will work to make this good law even better.
Tom Carper is the senior U.S. senator from Delaware.
