Quality and Access

Access to high-quality care is essential in making sure people can get and stay healthy, which is why we support policies that improve access, including:

• Strengthening the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has brought affordable coverage to millions of Americans, by expanding cost-sharing subsidies and premium tax credits,  and maintaining protections for those with pre-existing conditions. This includes continuation of the expanded individual market subsidies provided under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. 

• Maintaining a strong Medicare Advantage (MA) program, which offers important benefits and cost protections  for 27 million seniors and Medicare beneficiaries who are disabled.

• Supporting the Medicaid program by providing states with incentives to expand, promoting continuous enrollment for beneficiaries, and a smooth transition to other coverage for those disenrolled at the end of the public health emergency.

• Strengthening employer-based coverage, which is the foundation of health insurance in our country, providing quality health care coverage to over 156 million Americans. 

Our health services, HealthHUB®, MinuteClinic® and CVS Pharmacy® locations, as well as Coram® infusion and enteral care sites, make it easy to access care. CVS Health virtual care and digital tools like our CVS Pharmacy and Attain by Aetna™ apps, along with Aetna care management outreach teams, put care in the palm of consumers hands. We need to ensure that policies remain in place on the federal and state level for us to continue to deliver care that is easy, convenient and local.

For example, treating non-urgent and minor ailments in retail clinics like MinuteClinic or via telemedicine rather than hospital emergency rooms makes care more affordable and convenient for patients, while ensuring that high-cost settings are available for those who truly need them. We support promoting care in the lowest-cost setting, with health care professionals appropriately qualified and trained for the level of care needed. That includes making telemedicine an integrated component of the health care delivery system.

*2020 Morning Consult Poll (https://bettermedicarealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/BMA_Seniors-on-Medicare-Memo_.pdf)

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