House+Bill+Number+2351

**Healthcare Act of 2007** **Kate C and Margaret M media type="file" key="House Bill 2351(mm kc).mp3"** http://www.kaptur.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98&Itemid=26 Sponsored By: Marcy Kaptur (D-OH 9th) **Summary of our Bill:** H.R. Bill 2351 purpose is to allow a state to apply to the secretary of Health and Human Services for waivers of such provisions of law as may be necessary for the state to implement policies that make affordable health coverage available for all state resident. This act also ammends Medicaid of the Social Security Act, and ammends the Internal Revenue Code. Overall, this bill is designed to expand the number of individuals and families with health insurance coverage, and for other purposes. **History of our Act, Healthcare in the United States:** The current system of Healthcare in the United States in increasingly inaccessible to many poor and lower class-middle income American's. The number of American's lacking Healthcare in the United States has increased from 40 million people in 2000, to 47 million people in 2008. For some people in the United States, they receive healthcare benefits from their employers. This only applies to around less than half of Americans. For the others, there are private healthcare companies, which can be very expensive for decent coverage. Due to the lack of income of many American's, they are not able to insure themselves with any healthcare companies. **Who does this issue affect?** This issue affects poor and lower class- middle Americans. These people do not have health insurance and this act is trying to help these individuals and families receive healthcare. It also effects all American citizens because in order for the price of healthcare to drop, everyones taxes will rise. **Why is this issue important?** Healthcare spending continues to rise at the fastest rate in our history. United States healthcare is expected, with similar spending for the next decade, to reach about 4.2 trillion in 2016. Health care spending is 4.3 times the amount spent on national defense. The United States spends more on health care than other industrialized nations. If one member of your family is uninsured and has an accident, a costly medical treatment, with resulting medical bills can affect the economic stability of the whole family. Workers are now paying $1,400 more annually for family coverage than they did in 2000. If this costly healthcare continues then it can cause a drastic effect in our economy. This is a graph showing the number of Americans without health insurance. As you can see this number has slightly increased over that past years. HR Bill 2351 is trying to lessen this number by supplying uninsured Americans with health insurance. Bibliography:  -"Healthcare Crisis." <http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/history.htm >.  -"Congress Link." The Dirksen Congressional Center. 2008. 2 Dec. 2008  <http://capwiz.com/cl/issues/bills/?billtype=h.r.&billnumb=2351&congress=110 >.  Picture Bibliography:  -Percentage of Americans Without health insurance. Aug. 2008. U.S. Census Bureau  - __Members of Congress/Marcy Kaptur__. The U.S. Congress
 * House Bill 2351**