[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 21 (Thursday, February 10, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             OPPOSING THE REPEAL OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DAVID N. CICILLINE

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 10, 2011

  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, America is the strongest Nation in the 
world, we hold our freedoms sacred--and we have fought to protect these 
freedoms for centuries, and many have paid the ultimate sacrifice. Yet, 
there is a great and impending threat to that strength and freedom, a 
threat that imperils millions of Americans--the repeal of our Nation's 
Health Care Reform.
  As a new member of this Congress, protecting Health Care Reform is 
the first line in the sand. I was sent to Washington to fight for Rhode 
Islanders. As I have heard loudly over the past year, and witnessed 
first-hand as a Mayor for the last 8 years, families in my state have 
spent enough time awake at night worrying about where they'll find 
work, or the security of their current job. I will not support any 
action that places an additional burden on the people of Rhode Island. 
I will not have them lie awake at night, now having to once again worry 
that they will lose their health care when they need it most, or 
wondering how they'll pay for this month's prescriptions, or whether 
their child will be denied coverage because of a pre-existing 
condition.
  Just yesterday I had the privilege of hearing from a Rhode Islander, 
Alex Lataille, who spoke at the one and only hearings Congress had, to 
discuss the negative effects of repealing the new health care law.
  Alex graduated last May with two bachelor's degrees, and while 
looking for a job after graduation, he is able to afford health 
insurance because he can stay on his parents' policy. Repealing this 
law means Alex and millions of Americans will lose their coverage.
  Recently while having breakfast in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, I met a 
young woman named Beth. She said she was going to be a constituent of 
mine, and she had only one request. For years she had been, and 
remains, an insurance sales agent. But for as many years, she has been 
denied access to health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. 
Each and every day served as a painful reminder that while she was 
selling insurance to others, she was being denied the very same 
coverage. As someone well attuned to the health care industry and the 
Affordable Care Act itself, this young woman knew that health care 
reform meant hope, provided certainty, and would finally allow her to 
get the access to affordable health care she would need--relieving her 
of years of fear and anxiety. She asked for my commitment to defend 
health care reform.
  The Affordable Care Act establishes a Pre-Existing Condition 
Insurance Plan--one that would provide new coverage options for 
Americans like Beth until 2014, when, finally, all discrimination 
against Americans with pre-existing conditions will be prohibited. 
Recently I also had the opportunity to speak with Susan, a mother of 
five from Rhode Island. Susan and her husband Ed are both middle-income 
earners. Recently their two sons, age 22 and 23, graduated from 
college. Both sons found entry level work, but neither receives health 
insurance from their employers. Under the current law, both sons will 
be eligible for coverage under their mother's health insurance plan 
when it renews in eight months. Susan went on to tell me that it would 
cost her more than $600 per month to provide coverage to her sons 
through COBRA. She said that with three children still at home, and 
despite the fact her and her husband are employed, they cannot support 
the added expense beyond eight months.
  With repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the temporary gap that Susan 
and her family face would become a permanent gap. We are sending a 
deplorable message to Americans, and indeed the world, if we abandon 
hard working men and woman like Susan and Ed, and let their two sons--
both college graduates, both duly employed, go without health coverage 
until they find jobs that provide health insurance.
  I come to this Congress to help bring common sense solutions to 
complex problems. When I look at the impact of repealing the Affordable 
Care Act, I think about the struggles of Alex, Beth and Susan, Ed and 
their two sons. I think about the number of Rhode Islanders who will 
once again find themselves saddled with greater financial burdens. I 
think about the many men, women, and children of my state who will once 
again face uncertainty over something as fundamental as their own 
health and well-being. When I think about these consequences, it is 
common sense, and an understanding of the struggles faced by so many 
Rhode Islanders that compels me to object so strongly to this proposed 
repeal.
  I was sent here to find practical solutions to solve the problems 
facing Rhode Island families. Let's work to improve this law, not 
repeal it.

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