Dear Madam Speaker:

On behalf of the Congressional Asian Pacific Islander Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, we write to thank you for working with us to produce a health care reform bill that includes a public option which will increase competition and provide those in the Health Exchange with a choice between public and private plans.

In addition to the public option included in H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care For America Act, we believe the following provisions should be maintained and strengthened in the manager’s amendment to ensure that the strongest bill possible will be considered by the House:

Ensure sufficiency of subsidies within the Health Exchange to provide affordability of premiums for those who do not currently have health insurance.

Strengthen cost containment provisions for premiums to ensure affordability for those who already have insurance but could lose coverage without mechanisms to reign in spiraling costs.

Ensure that Americans in every state are able to take advantage of the benefits of the bill by explicitly stating that the public option must be available without any triggers or opt-out provisions.

Strengthen and create Offices of Minority Health across the Department of Health and Human Services to address the myriad of racial and ethnic health disparities, and elevate the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institute of Health to Center to bolster and strengthen the capacity of health disparity research in order to achieve health equity in minority health.

Ensure that no citizenship or residency verification is required for purchase of insurance in the Health Insurance Exchange.

We look forward to working with you and our colleagues to pass the strongest health care reform bill possible in the House this week and protecting those provisions, particularly maintaining the strongest public option possible, in the conference between the House and Senate.

Sincerely,

 

Rep. Mike Honda, Chair
Congressional Asian Pacific Caucus

Rep. Barbara Lee, Chair
Congressional Black Caucus

Rep. Nydia Velazquez, Chair
Congressional Hispanic Caucus

Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, Co-Chair
Rep. Lynn Woolsey, Co-Chair
Congressional Progressive Caucus