[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 164 (Monday, November 18, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1692-E1693]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   KEEP YOUR HEALTH PLAN ACT OF 2013

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 15, 2013

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today is opposition to H.R. 3350, 
the so-called ``Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013.'' This bill is not a 
fix to the problems that have arisen because insurance companies are 
canceling plans that are insufficient to qualify under the new 
Affordable Care Act standards or are not viewed as economically viable 
and worth offering.
  Instead, this bill will raise premiums in insurance marketplaces and 
undermine the overall market reforms that Obamacare is designed to 
remedy. Yesterday, President Obama offered a better solution than this 
bill, to address these issues.
  As one of the few members that were here during the creation of 
Medicare, I remember first-hand the tactics used by those opposed to 
its creation. While this is a very different time and context in 
history, the vehemence of the opposition has its parallels.
  Let me remind you that Medicare was once described by George H.W. 
Bush as ``socialized medicine'' and Ronald Reagan once stated that, 
``one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years 
telling our children and our children's children what it once was like 
in America when men were free.''
  Today, Republicans have done little but resist and fear-monger in 
opposition to Obamacare's implementation. These conservatives see H.R. 
3350 as ``a metaphorical bullet to the gut of Obamacare.'' James 
Capretta, a conservative health care policy expert at the Heritage 
Foundation and American Enterprise Institute, described it as having an 
``end result that would be one more step toward fully reversing'' what 
he describes as the ``catastrophic mistake of Obamacare.'' And even 
Leader John Boehner has argued that it is part of a larger strategy to 
``stop this law.''
  Although, Medicare has issues that need to be addressed, it has 
dramatically improved access to health care for America's seniors, 
leading to longer and healthier lives, reducing poverty, desegregating 
southern hospitals, and becoming one of the most popular government 
programs. From my own political experience, I can safely say that once 
in place and allowed to operate as designed, Obamacare will have a 
similarly positive affect.
  Allowing H.R. 3350 to pass would be a step backward in the advances 
we have made in

[[Page E1693]]

curbing healthcare costs and expanding access. The increase in 
grandfathered plans this bill allows would open the door to the cherry-
picking by health insurance companies that Obamacare is designed to 
eliminate. Encouraging younger, healthier, and cheaper-to-cover-adults 
to withdrawal from the Marketplaces will cause premiums within the 
Marketplaces to substantially increase.
  The bill would also allow insurers to continue to offer plans that 
don't include essential health benefits, don't comply with the 
requirement banning annual caps on coverage, aren't subject to premium 
rate reviews to determine whether their premiums are reasonable, allow 
discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions, and force 
women to pay more than men for the same coverage. These are many of the 
past problems of the private insurance industry that Obamacare was 
specifically designed to correct.
  Further, it would cause major delays in the start of coverage because 
insurers would need to establish and file new rates to state insurance 
departments for review. This would impose major delays to Obamacare's 
implementation, which is the ultimate goal of this bill and the 
Republican agenda.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the 46th attempt by Republicans to vote to 
undermine and effectively repeal the Affordable Care Act. I rise today 
in strong opposition to H.R. 3350, but in support of Rep. Millers' 
Motion to Recommit which legislates the President's position. I 
encourage all my colleagues to do the same.

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