Brooklyn, N.Y. – Brooklyn, NY – Representative Yvette D. Clarke issued the following statement on a report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which demonstrates that premiums in Health Insurance Marketplaces are sixteen percent lower than expected, even before financial assistance has been provided to people who enroll.

Enrollment starts on October 1, 2013.

Subsidies for health insurance will reduce the cost even more for most people who enroll in the marketplaces, which were established under the Affordable Care Act. Health Insurance Marketplaces will enroll people from the thirty-six states which, unlike New York State, have not established a marketplace.

“This report demonstrates that the Affordable Care Act will provide American families with more choices and better health care at a reasonable cost,” said Representative Clarke. “I believe that future generations will remember the enactment of this law as the foundation of a civil society in which every person has a right to health care.”

Already, the Affordable Care Act has allowed millions of Americans to visit a primary care provider every year without a co-payment, increased the percentage of health insurance premiums spent on health care services, and prohibited insurance companies from refusing to enroll people who have pre-existing conditions. 

Representative Clarke continued: “We cannot allow the Republican majority in the House of Representatives to undermine the success of the Affordable Care Act. I will work with President Obama to encourage people in every state to enroll, to increase both the quality of our health and the length of our lives.”

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Ethics, and Homeland Security, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.