8th District Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin has helped introduce a bill that will lower health care premiums and protect people with pre-existing conditions.

Over her first three months in Congress, Slotkin says she has made it a priority to lower the cost of health care and prescription drugs. In a release, she stated that she hears from local residents every day about the struggles of navigating health care coverage and the high costs of health care and prescription drugs. On Tuesday, she helped introduce the Protecting Pre-Existing Conditions & Making Health Care More Affordable Act. Slotkin’s mother passed away in 2011 from ovarian cancer after struggling for years to access care due to her pre-existing condition. The bill expands eligibility for premium tax credits beyond 400% of the federal poverty line and increases the size of tax credits for all income brackets. It also creates a national reinsurance program to help cover the costs of consumers with expensive medical conditions, and offers funding for states to establish their own state-based marketplaces, which could offer lower premiums.

Slotkin said that “Health care is our generation’s problem to solve,” and that she won’t stop working until every family has access to health care they can afford. (MK)