Lauding Saturday’s third anniversary of the signing of ObamaCare, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) today claimed the healthcare law has saved lives and saved “tens of millions” on meds in his state alone.
Reid called the Affordable Care Act “the greatest single step in generations toward ensuring access to quality, affordable healthcare for every American.”
“In less than a year, 129 million Americans with preexisting conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes can rest assured they’ll have access to affordable insurance and life-saving care – regardless of their health or how much money they make,” he said on the Senate floor.
“In Nevada alone, tens of thousands of seniors have saved tens of millions of dollars on medicines because the Affordable Care Act closed the gap in prescription drug coverage. But health reform is not only saving money – it’s saving lives.”
Reid gave the example of a 26-year-old college student from Nevada who got a bone marrow transplant after hopping on her parents’ insurance.
“Before the Affordable Care Act became law, Sarah would have been one of the tens of millions of Americans who desperately needed life-saving care, but didn’t have insurance to pay for it. Before the Affordable Care Act, Sarah might even have become one of the 45,000 Americans who died each year because they lacked health insurance,” Reid said. “…Sarah’s mother, Sue, sent me a letter in January. She wrote that Obamacare and the dedicated doctors at Stanford Hospital saved her daughter’s life.”
“Thomas Jefferson wrote that, ‘The care of human life and happiness… is the first and only object of good government.’ I am gratified that the Affordable Care Act meets that standard. And I am proud that this law, which we worked so hard to pass, is already ensuring the care of human life remains the first object of this government.”
A nonpartisan analysis conducted last year for the state of Nevada found ObamaCare will hike premiums an average of 11- 30 percent by 2014 and said 44 percent of Nevada doctors will curtail their acceptance of new Medicare patients.
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