[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 165 (Tuesday, November 19, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H7198]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IF YOU FIX IT, THEY WILL COME

  (Mr. COURTNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, despite all of the hysterical comments 
like we just heard on the floor here today, it is important for people 
to know that, in States in which Governors embrace the Affordable Care 
Act and set up a high-functioning Web site, the fact of the matter is 
that enrollment is exceeding expectations.
  In Connecticut on Friday, which is where I am from, we released 
figures. Over 13,000 enrolled in the first 6 weeks, and the pace of 
enrollment is accelerating. In the last 2 weeks, they have enrolled 
more than they had enrolled in the prior month. On Saturday, I was at 
an enrollment fair--there were eight of them all across the State--and 
there was a full waiting room of people who were waiting their turns--
like at a deli counter to get their numbers--to sit down to get help in 
terms of signing up with a plan. Twenty minutes is all it took to sign 
up for a plan.
  I spoke to Merrylyn Weaver from New London, Connecticut, who said:

       I am finally going to have health insurance after 3 years 
     of being without it.

  It took her 20 minutes to sign up for an Anthem Blue Cross Silver 
plan.
  The fact of the matter is that the message is, if you fix it, they 
will come. That is what this Congress should be focused on is fixing it 
so that the people in the waiting room like I saw in Norwich, 
Connecticut, are going to get help all across the country. It is time 
to help people get insurance, not to scare them and destroy a plan that 
provides them hope.

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