[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 21, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H1436-H1437]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, this week, we're marking the second 
anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act. I wanted to take 
a few minutes to speak to a number of groups that have benefited from 
the health care reform, a reform which I strongly supported.
  If you think back to the time of the debate 2 years ago, it was at 
the height of hearing stories about people across the country, millions 
of people, who were struggling to access the health care system. So let 
me speak to the struggles of two or three particular groups.
  Many adults across the country had had the experience of trying to 
get health care coverage, health care insurance, and discovering that 
because they had a ``preexisting condition,'' as it's so called, that 
they would be denied that coverage. If you look at some of the policies 
even today, you can see that the list of preexisting conditions is a 
long one. You don't have to have some kind of exotic disease or 
condition. Diabetes, hypertension, other things that plague millions of 
Americans across the country could be the basis for an insurance 
company denying coverage to you.
  As difficult as that experience was for many adults to have when they 
went to try to purchase coverage because they had a preexisting 
condition, the most heart-wrenching stories we heard were of parents 
who had a child that suffered from a preexisting condition, and that 
child was unable to get health insurance coverage. It literally was 
tearing the hearts out of families across this country. One of the 
things that the Affordable Care Act put in place was a prohibition 
against denying coverage for children based on a preexisting condition. 
That is now law as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
  Those who argue that we should repeal the Affordable Care Act, I 
cannot believe that they want to go back to a time when a family would 
have to look at their child who had a preexisting condition and know 
that they couldn't get coverage, couldn't provide health care for that 
child. I can't believe that we want to go back to that.
  A second group that benefited are young people, many of whom after 
they graduated from college could no longer stay on the health 
insurance plan of their parents because it wasn't provided for. Under 
the Affordable Care Act, if you're a young person, you can now stay on 
your parents' health insurance plan until age 26.

                              {time}  1110

  This is making a huge difference for millions of Americans across the 
country. Already hundreds of thousands have taken advantage of the 
opportunity to stay on the insurance plan of their parents, which means 
that young people, many of whom think that they're invincible but then 
something happens to them and they need that health insurance coverage, 
now they'll have it. It's still in place because, under the Affordable 
Care Act, there's now a requirement that health insurance plans cover 
young people until age 26.
  I cannot believe that those who want to repeal the Affordable Care 
Act want to go back to a situation where millions of young people can't 
access that health insurance coverage.
  And let me talk about the third group, our seniors who, 2 years ago, 
were dealing with the situation of having to come out of pocket for 
prescription drugs because of the so-called doughnut hole under the 
prescription drug benefit program. Under the Affordable Care Act, we 
put in place the opportunity now to begin closing the doughnut hole and 
making sure that seniors who are in the doughnut hole have access to a 
50 percent discount on prescription drugs, brand-name prescription 
drugs.
  So now our seniors, many of whom before were having to make a choice 
between do I cover the cost of food, do I pay the rent, or do I cover 
the cost of my prescription drugs because they were having to come out 
of pocket, now, many of them don't have to make that terrible choice 
because of the assistance provided by the Affordable Care Act.
  I cannot believe that those who are urging the repeal of health care 
reform want to take our seniors back to a place where they have to make 
that terrible choice between whether to

[[Page H1437]]

cover the rent, buy food, or pay for their prescription drugs.
  Madam Speaker, there are so many good things already in place as a 
result of the health care reform, and I cannot believe that those who 
want to repeal it want to deny our children, want to deny our young 
people, want to deny our seniors the benefits that it provides.

                          ____________________