Health insurance reform will benefit Nevadans

Now that the Senate has begun debating the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Nevada and the nation are closer to historic health insurance reform than ever before. This bill will save lives, save money and save Medicare.

Under the Senate bill, 518,000 Nevada residents could get affordable coverage; 328,000 seniors would receive free preventive services; and 24,000 small businesses would be helped by a small business tax credit to make premiums more affordable. In fact, 93 percent of people will see lower premiums under this bill.

Insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, and they will no longer be able to drop people who get sick when they need coverage the most. The bill provides protection from unfair out-of-pocket costs, and restricts arbitrary limits on the amount of coverage you can receive. We end discrimination based on gender and limit insurers' ability to charge more based on age. We will also allow young adults to stay on their parents' insurance. The bill also eliminates co-pays and deductibles for preventive services, putting an emphasis on wellness and prevention.

With an issue like this that affects every person in our country, transparency is key. Just as the committee hearings were open to the public and televised, so will the debate be on the final bill. Debate on the Senate floor will be televised on C-SPAN and can also be viewed on the Internet. The bill has also been posted numerous places online for all to read, including on the front page of my own Web site: http://reid.senate.gov.

Our health care crisis didn't happen overnight. Decades of inaction and of cowering to the might of the insurance companies led to our broken system. Doing nothing is no longer an option. When a cancer patient can be dropped from his insurance because he got sick, it's time to reform the system. When a child born with severe asthma can't find insurance because of a pre-existing condition, it's time to reform the system.

And when a woman is charged a higher premium than a man, simply because she's a woman, it's time to reform the system.

I have already talked to tens of thousands of Nevadans and look forward to hearing from more over the coming weeks as we have a full and fair debate on the Senate bill. But rest assured that when all the politicking and posturing is over, we will have a final bill that lowers costs for consumers, protects the quality and choice of care, and stops the unfair practices that insurance companies have used to make money on the backs of hardworking Nevadans.

Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, is majority leader of the U.S. Senate.