Political Quotes

“this Saturday marks the third anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act. At age 3, the law is protecting consumers against abusive insurance practices, helping seniors by lowering prescription drug costs, and building the infrastructure to expand health insurance coverage to millions of Americans. For the first time, patients' interests and needs are being put ahead of those of the insurance and drug companies. The Obama administration has worked tirelessly to implement the law, in the face of constant opposition. My Republican colleagues in Congress have voted to repeal or defund the Affordable Care Act well over 30 times. It is a chilling, if useless, political refrain from the tea party. On this third anniversary, it is important not only to reflect on how far we have come but to continue pressing forward on the Affordable Care Act's many improvements to our health care system, particularly the delivery system reforms. The Council of Economic Advisers' 2013 ``Economic Report of the President'' identified a number of sources of waste in our health care system, including the fragmentation of the delivery system; duplicate care and overtreatment; the failure of providers to adopt best practices; and payment fraud. The council notes: Taken together, [these factors] have been estimated to account for between 13 and 26 percent of national health expenditures in 2011.…”