Raise the Cap Coalition
January 29, 2010
Majority Leader Harry Reid
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
United States Senate
United States House of Representatives
S-221, US Capitol
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations and millions of Americans with chronic diseases and
conditions, thank you for your tireless efforts to reform our healthcare system. We continue to
support your efforts to improve the health insurance market, and strongly urge you to press
forward with adoption of these important reforms as soon as possible. As you consider various
options for moving forward with enactment of health reform, we reaffirm our request that you
eliminate lifetime and annual limits for all health plans so that all Americans will benefit from
these critical reforms, not just a few.
Lifetime and annual limits on private insurance pose a considerable problem for individuals with
chronic diseases, rare disorders, or a major medical crisis. Many private insurers continue to
set lifetime and annual limits on health coverage, meaning that no additional coverage is
provided once these limits are reached. Patients who exceed their annual or lifetime limits are
forced to find other ways to pay for medical costs, such as paying more out of pocket, finding
new insurance, changing jobs or worst of all, curtailing or going without the medical care they
need.
Under the Senate health reform bill (H.R. 3590), lifetime limits are eliminated for new plans six
months after enactment and annual limits are eliminated for new plans beginning in 2014.
However, existing ­ or grandfathered ­ plans are permanently exempt from these critical
reforms. As such, patients in these plans will continue to be trapped by the limits they impose,
or be forced to find new jobs in order to obtain new insurance plans that do not impose such
limits. In comparison, the House health reform bill (H.R. 3962) eliminates lifetime and annual
limits for all plans ­ both new and grandfathered. Lifetime limits are eliminated for all plans in
2010, and annual limits are eliminated for all plans by 2018.
Individuals with chronic diseases, rare disorders, or a major medical crisis must not be impeded
in accessing necessary health care, nor should they be impoverished by lifetime and annual
caps on benefits. As you continue the important work of reforming our health insurance system,
we urge you to adopt the House provision on lifetime and annual limits, with one modification,
incorporating the Senate provision restricting annual limits through 2013.
We have the
opportunity to provide the much-needed relief these patients need and deserve, and appreciate
your continued commitment to enacting reform.
Sincerely,
Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness, Inc.
Alliance for Aging Research
Alpha-1 Association
Alpha-1 Foundation

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American Heart Association/American
Interstitial Cystitis Association
Stroke Association
Kids With Heart National Assn for Children's
American Sickle Cell Anemia Association
Heart Disorders, Inc.
Aplastic Anemia & MDS International
Lung Cancer Alliance
Foundation
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Autism Society
National Gaucher Foundation
Benign Essential Blepharospasm Research
National Health Council
Foundation, Inc.
National Hemophilia Foundation
Brain Injury Association of America
National Kidney Foundation
Breast Cancer Network of Strength
National Marfan Foundation
Californians for Cures
National Organization for Rare Disorders
Caring for Carcinoid Foundation
National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association
Children's Rare Disease Network
National Spinal Cord Injury Association
Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation
Ovarian Cancer National Alliance
Colon Cancer Alliance
Parkinson's Action Network
Cooley's Anemia Foundation
Patient Services Incorporated
COPD Foundation
Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North
Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America
America
Dystonia Medical Research Foundation
Pediatric Stroke Network, Inc.
Easter Seals
Plasma Users Coalition
GBS/CIDP Foundation
Pulmonary Hypertension Association
Hemophilia Federation of America
RARE Project
Hepatitis Foundation International
Scleroderma Foundation
Huntington's Disease Society of America
Sjögren's Syndrome Foundation
Immune Deficiency Foundation
ST/Dystonia,Inc.
International Foundation for Functional
Susan G. Komen for the Cure Advocacy
Gastrointestinal Disorders
Alliance
International Myeloma Foundation
United Spinal Association
Cc:
Senator Tom Harkin
Senator Max Baucus
Senator Chris Dodd
Congressman George Miller
Congressman Charles Rangel
Congressman Henry Waxman

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