SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Covered California Executive Director Jessica Altman issued the following statement on Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s announcement of her retirement on Thursday:
“After nearly four decades of unmatched public service, Speaker Emerita Pelosi leaves behind a legacy that continues to affect the lives of millions of Americans every day.
“Speaker Emerita Pelosi was one of the architects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the driving force in making sure the landmark legislation became the law of the land in 2010.
“She was again the speaker of the House when the current Enhanced Premium Tax Credits were passed in 2021, further bringing down costs for consumers and making health insurance more affordable and accessible to more Americans than ever.
“Thanks to the speaker emerita’s tireless efforts, enrollment in Affordable Care Act marketplaces has more than doubled nationwide and currently provides health care coverage to over 24 million Americans, including nearly 2 million here in California.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to hold the most powerful position in Congress, who has been the leader of House Democrats for 20 years, announced earlier today that she's stepping down from her leadership position as soon as the 118th Congress takes office on January 3rd, 2023.
Pelosi is a legend in the U.S. Congress, and no accomplishment more perfectly illustrates her skill than the passage of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act in 2009 - 2010.
There's one night I will remember most when thinking about Nancy Pelosi - the night I watched her single handedly save health care for 20 million Americans. It was at the first Democratic caucus meeting after Scott Brown won the special Senate election in Massachusetts.
Many rank-and-file Democrats were in a panic, and they lined up at the microphone to tell Pelosi that it was time for us to give up on the Affordable Care Act. Or chop it up into little pieces - as some in the White House were suggesting.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday released her long-awaited plan to curb soaring prices of prescription drugs, a political chess move that could prod the Senate to move and heat up congressional negotiations with the White House on a popular but elusive goal.
Ms. Pelosi’s plan, which she was to lay out at a morning news conference, would allow the government to negotiate the price of as many as 250 name-brand drugs for Medicare beneficiaries — an idea that many Republicans hate but that President Trump embraced during his 2016 campaign. Drug companies would also have to offer the agreed-on prices to private insurers or face harsh penalties, which could give the package broader appeal with voters.
A couple of weeks ago, I noted that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, in an interview airing on MSNBC, stated that two of the major pieces of healthcare legislation she intends on pushing through this session are raising the ACA's tax credit eligibility threshold and "replacing" the now-repealed ACA individual mandate (i was never sure whether "replacing" meant reinstating it or actually replacing it with some other enrollment incentive).
I realize that the odds of any useful healthcare legislation managing to pass the Senate and become law under the Trump Administration is pretty slim, but hey, it's still good news, right!
