Pollack says that the new law will make health care coverage more affordable for families in the by helping to slow the rise in health insurance premiums (something that critics say the law won't do).
Congresswoman Castor says that the law demands that 80 percent of premiums charged go back into health care - not into the salaries of the CEO's of the health care companies.
Specifically, Families USA says that under the new law, previously insured families will pay an average of $717 less in premiums in 2019. Pollack says he uses that year as the one to compare because by then the legislation will have fully taken affect, and most people would be aware by that time about the legislation's features (the law is scheduled to go fully into effect in January of 2014. That is, unless the U.S. Supreme Court halts that from happening when they review the constitutionality of the individual mandate provision).
Pollack also said that people who currently pay for health insurance currently pay a "hidden tax" that will be eliminated when the roughly thirty million of the population currently without insurance get it, since those costs currently get shifted to those with health care coverage.
Congresswoman Castor said that when she speaks to small business owners in her district, "they're fighting through the misinformation about how awful the ACA is. 'Let's repeal it' they hear that over and over," she lamented.
She then listed some benefits of seniors currently on Medicare that have already been aided by some of the bill's new provisions, including having received a $250 rebate when they hit the 'donut hole' in terms of their prescription drug plan coverage.
Both Castor and Congressman Deutch chastised Florida Republicans who they say seem to be "committed" to making it more difficult for the the uninsured to reap the benefits of the new law here in the Sunshine State.
Congresswoman Castor blasted "state leaders" for not standing up for working class families, specifically mentioning how the state has rejected funding to review requests by insurance companies for rate increases. "That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?" she asked.
