[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 33 (Thursday, February 27, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H2007]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OBAMACARE IS OFF THE MARK
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Huizenga) for 5 minutes.
Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, if you thought the Obama
administration's rollout of www.healthcare.gov was bad, believe it or
not, it got worse for another section of our citizens.
Back in Michigan, the Second District is home to a higher number of
Latino citizens than any other congressional district in the State of
Michigan; and like thousands of other residents across Michigan,
Hispanic Michiganians are forced to deal with higher costs, the
potential loss of their doctor, and canceled insurance policies all
because of ObamaCare. These citizens are in need of the same
information that we are all in search of.
Well, after being delayed for more than 2 months, the administration
finally unveiled its Spanish language Web site, cuidadodesalud.gov,
that contained an embarrassing amount of Spanglish. Even I couldn't
come up with that much Spanglish.
Frankly, it is insulting that the administration would simply make up
words, rather than provide an accurate translation of the President's
signature achievement.
One friend made the humorous observation that it is just as bad in
Spanish as it is in English, and nobody can work with it in Spanish
either.
Well, Latinos are more adversely impacted in many ways by soaring
premiums because the median age of the Hispanic population is actually
10 years younger than the national average; therefore, they are seeing
these premiums soar, as it shifts those costs to younger Americans.
It is predicted that younger citizens are the very folks who are
needed to sign up for this program in order to make it actuarially
sound, but these are the same folks who are not doing so right now.
The focus of the debate, instead, needs to be on patient-centered
solutions that not only lower costs, but deliver high-quality care to
more citizens, none of which, unfortunately, ObamaCare actually does. I
believe it is time to repeal and replace this failed policy.
You know, Mr. Speaker, House Republicans have led with numerous
options, such as the Patient OPTION Act, as Dr. Broun was just talking
about; Dr. Price of Georgia; Dr. Benishek of my home State of Michigan;
the Republican Study Committee plan--a number of plans are out there
that have been proposed that I think would be a far better solution to
those things that we can all agree on: having greater access for more
people at a lower cost.
But I think one thing we can all agree on in any language is that
ObamaCare is off the mark.
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