Congresswoman Lois Frankel today called on the Republican-led House to focus on creating jobs and strengthening our economy as Republicans try for the 37th time to repeal, defund or dismantle the Affordable Care Act.

“We should be working on creating jobs and getting people back to work instead of taking away our citizens' access to healthcare,” Frankel said.  “We should all be open to improving our health care laws — but I will not support going backwards and raising prescription drug costs for seniors or allowing insurance companies to discriminate against women or people with pre-existing health conditions.”

The Affordable Care Act has already delivered important benefits to Florida families, young adults and seniors:

• Over 237,000 seniors have seen lower prescription drug costs
• 224,000 young adults have gained coverage under their parents’ plans
• 1.3 million people have received $124 million in rebates from their insurance companies
• 2.5 million women and 1.8 million seniors and people with disabilities have access to free preventive care such as cancer screenings and women’s wellness tests

And more than 1 million Floridians will be eligible for expanded Medicaid pending action from the Florida Legislature.

In addition, the health care law prevents insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing health conditions, stops insurance companies from charging women higher premiums than men and provides tax credits for small businesses to help them offer employee health insurance coverage.

According to recent reports, the new health care law is also starting to slow the growth in health care costs. U.S. health care spending grew at 3.9% the past three years—the lowest growth rate in 50 years.

The Affordable Care Act is helping to reduce the deficit and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that repealing health care reform would increase the deficit.

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