Congresswoman Shalala Goes to bat for Obamacare

Freshman Congresswoman Donna Shalala served eight years on the Clinton Cabinet as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Now, as a Florida Congresswoman, Shalala is setting her focus on healthcare reform concerns.

Since being elected, Congresswoman Shalala has defended Obamacare and its future because of “the various threats presented by House Republicans and the Trump Administration to the Affordable Care Act’s protections for American workers with preexisting medical conditions.”

This week, Shalala further explained that “Since March 2010, when President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, House Republicans have voted more than 70 times to repeal all, or part of the ACA.Despite their long assault on the ACA, the GOP has yet to develop an alternative that would continue to safeguard the more than 133 million Americans with preexisting conditions who depend on the protections of the ACA.  Whether you get your insurance from your employer, Medicare, or through the exchange you have something to lose if the ACA is repealed or overturned. We owe it to the public to not only defend the Affordable Care Act, but examine the threats to its continued existence.”

Not only does Congresswoman Shalala have membership in the U.S. House Rules Committee, which is in charge of determining what bills make it to the House Floor, but she has also been assigned to the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions. What this Subcommittee is in charge of is “employment-related health and retirement security, including but not limited to pension, health, other employee benefits, and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.”

Shalala and her office maintain that “Democrats in Congress are committed to preserving the ACA, as well as expanding and protecting access to affordable healthcare for all Americans.” That will include “working to lower the price of prescription drugs and shielding consumers from expensive out-of-pocket costs.”