{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://fedorchak.house.gov/media/press-releases/fedorchak-votes-lower-health-care-costs-expand-affordable-coverage-options", "Fedorchak votes to lower health care costs, expand affordable coverage options", "2025-12-17", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "ND", "Julie Fedorchak", "F000482", "fedorchak.house.gov", "fedorchak", "https://fedorchak.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak (R-ND) today voted in favor of the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, legislation to lower prescription drug costs, reduce premiums through Cost-Sharing Reductions (CSRs), expand Association Health Plans, protect access to employer-sponsored insurance, and empower patients to make better health care decisions.\n\n\u201cThe so-called Affordable Care Act failed to live up to its name. Fifteen years later, Americans are struggling with skyrocketing premiums, fewer options, and a broken system defined by fraud and abuse,\u201d Fedorchak said. \u201cThe Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act begins unwinding this broken model and gives working Americans a real path to affordable coverage. Our goal is a health care system that puts patients first and meets their needs with greater access, more choices, lower costs, and good-quality care.\u201d\n\nThe Democrat-led \u2018Affordable Care Act\u2019 has failed to deliver on its core promise of affordability. The average premium for single coverage is $9,325 per year, while the average premium for family coverage is nearly $27,000.\n\nIn 2026 alone, health insurance on the ACA marketplace is rising 26 percent. At the same time, insurance revenues have increased from $245 billion when Obamacare was first passed to $1.4 trillion in 2023. Moreover, a recent report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) found rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in the ACA marketplace. According to a JEC study, phantom enrollees now make up 35 percent of marketplace enrollees.\n\nSpecifically, the legislation:\n\nLowers Prescription Drug Costs\n\nSaves taxpayers $1.9 billion by reducing health care premiums for millions of American workers.\n\nCracks down on middlemen by requiring pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to be transparent with employers, empowering small businesses to negotiate better deals and lower drug costs for workers.\n\nPBMs would be required to report each drug dispensed by an employer\u2019s health plan, at what cost each drug was dispensed, how many participants for each drug, and the amount of rebates or other fees that are incurred because of each drug.\n\nLowers premium costs through Cost-Sharing Reductions (CSRs)\n\nAppropriates cost-sharing reduction payments to stabilize the broken system and individual market.\n\nReduces out-of-pocket costs like deductibles and copays.\n\nLowers ACA Marketplace premiums by 11 percent, around double the premium reduction compared to extending the Democrats\u2019 temporary COVID credits.\n\nSaves patients as much as $1,871 each year across the country and saves the American taxpayers $36.7 billion.\n\nReduces hidden premium increases caused by \u201csilver loading.\u201d Lowers costs for workers and small business owners who don\u2019t qualify for subsidies.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://fedorchak.house.gov/media/press-releases/fedorchak-votes-lower-health-care-costs-expand-affordable-coverage-options"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.8227330185472965, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}