Dear Fellow Nevadan:
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the landmark health insurance reform legislation known as the Affordable Care Act. This important legislation is already helping Nevadans to obtain the quality, effective, and affordable health insurance that they deserve. Health insurance reform is not only lowering costs, but is improving choices, competition, and offering more assistance to ensure that all Americans can afford health insurance.It's not helping my sister in Montana, however.
Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to address the skyrocketing insurance costs and lack of choices that were suffocating Nevada's families, seniors, and small businesses. As each new provision of the law is implemented, Nevadans have one more protection against abusive insurance company practices such as arbitrarily raising rates or unfairly denying treatments that doctors recommend. Health insurance reform is lowering costs for Nevada's small businesses, providing competitive choices in insurance plans for families, eliminating the Medicare 'Donut Hole' for seniors, and stopping insurance companies from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions like leukemia.
It's not help my mother in Illinois, since her children want a better level of care than Medicare offers. So she gets zip from Medicare.
Yesterday, I visited Pioneer Overhead Door, owned by Ron Nelsen, to talk about how the Affordable Care Act is lowering costs for his business and small businesses across Nevada. Before health insurance reform, Ron struggled to pay for health insurance for his five full-time employees. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Ron is now able to provide insurance for himself and his employees.
How'd you do that, Ron? Why'd you do it? To avoid the fine?
I understand that Nevadans, like Ron Nelsen, cannot afford to go back to the days when insurance costs threatened to stall growth and kill jobs. This is why I will continue fighting to make improvements to the law and protect it as it begins to take effect. Make no mistake, when opponents of health insurance reform advocate repeal, they are really calling for hiking taxes on Nevada's small businesses, raising the cost of prescription drugs for seniors, and exploding the deficit by more than $1 trillion.
Not me, Harry, I'm calling for fiscal responsiblity.
I encourage you to learn more about the benefits Nevada will receive as a result of this historic legislation by clicking here. For more information on my work in the Senate or to contact me, please visit my website at reid.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
HARRY REID
U.S. Senator for Nevada