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Insurance companies can no longer refuse to cover Americans with pre-existing conditions.

I know how critical it is to make sure that people with pre-existing conditions have affordable insurance, and states are able to do that.

Pre-existing conditions for those previously insured must not lead to someone being unable to get insurance.

Congressional Republicans themselves have vehemently defended the idea that preexisting conditions should not be used to deny people insurance.

But we are not going to stand by and go back to allowing people with preexisting conditions to be discriminated against, go back to the situation where people can be thrown off their insurance simply because they become seriously ill or you can't get on your parents' insurance after the age of 20.

If people want to keep their kid on their insurance at 26, fine. We've got to make sure no American gets turned back for pre-existing conditions, that's fine.

Because of the Affordable Care Act, millions of Americans finally have the security that comes from quality, affordable health coverage. And, millions more have better, more reliable coverage than ever before.

I understand that in these difficult economic times, the potential for any additional expense is not welcomed by American businesses. But in the long run, the health insurance reform law promises to cut health-care costs for U.S. businesses, not expand them.

Small businesses are seeing huge rate increases every year, and more and more of them are saying they just can't afford to provide coverage. That's part of the reason more than 45 million Americans are now uninsured.

That's what the Affordable Care Act is all about. It's about filling the gaps in employer-based care so that when we lose a job, or go back to school, or start that new business, we'll still have coverage.