[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 137 (Wednesday, November 12, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5897-S5898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, in the days after the election this year, I 
heard a number of my colleagues--many from my State--in the House of 
Representatives and in the Senate talk with great exuberance about 
repealing the Affordable Care Act. They call it ObamaCare; others call 
it the Affordable Care Act. I am not sure where they were over the last 
month or so, but I remember hearing Pope Francis I exhort his parish 
priests to go out and smell like the flock. Abraham Lincoln used to 
talk about it. He would say he needs to go outside of the White House 
and get his public opinion baths.
  I cite Pope Francis and President Lincoln because I think if my 
colleagues had been out talking to real people and not going to 
fundraisers, not meeting with rich people at country clubs, and not 
going to the political rallies, but out talking to real people, they 
would have seen what the Affordable Care Act has done.
  In a moment, I wish to talk about a couple of numbers, but more 
importantly, I want to share some stories. More than 500,000 people in 
Ohio--and I think New Mexico, the Presiding Officer's State, is 
proportionately no different--have health insurance today who did not 
have it 14 months--did not have it 1 year ago. An additional 97,000 
young Ohioans--people who are just a bit older than the pages sitting 
here; 18, 20, 25--are on their parents' health plans. Thousands of 
Ohioans have been protected as patients, as people who are insured. 
When they would get sick and their coverage was expensive, they would 
be dropped by insurance companies because they were too costly. Now 
they have the consumer protections and they can't be dropped from 
coverage. One million Ohio seniors now have gotten--with no copay and 
no deductible--free preventive care for osteoporosis and physician 
screenings. One million Ohio seniors were able to get their screenings 
at no cost.
  I have to tell a quick story. Every Thursday anybody from Ohio can 
come to a coffee we have in our office at 8:30 a.m. when the Senate is 
in session. A family came by on one of those Thursdays. They were 
pretty conservative. I assume they were not really voters for me, but 
it didn't matter. We were talking about a bunch of different issues.
  The mother said: Thank you for the Affordable Care Act. See my son 
over there? He is 15 years old.
  I said: Yes.
  He was across the room. She said that when he was 7, he was diagnosed 
with diabetes.
  She said: I have counted, since he was diagnosed, 34 times that he 
was turned down for insurance.
  My family was turned down for insurance. Last week she told me I got 
insurance because of the Affordable Care Act, because we don't allow 
under Federal law now that that be done.
  Let me share for a moment, if I could, a handful of letters I have 
received from people who have written me because of the Affordable Care 
Act.
  Rachel from Hamilton County writes that since 2008 she and her 
husband insured themselves through individual insurance. It had been 
difficult, and at times, we had to go without insurance because of the 
incredibly high cost. I had also been denied insurance due to a 
preexisting condition. All of that changed since we were able to sign 
up via the healthcare.gov site. But imagine my surprise when I heard 
the D.C. Circuit Court struck down subsidies people like myself 
receive. I receive a subsidy because health insurance has become so 
expensive that it is unaffordable for so many of us. I fear we will not 
be able to afford insurance if we lose our subsidy.
  Linda from Madison County, west of Columbus, writes: My husband and I 
have personally benefited from the portion of the bill that did away 
with lifetime maximum payments. I suspect it may have saved our 
retirement and kept us off welfare rolls. My colleague benefited from 
the portion of the bill that allowed her son, who suffers from a 
potentially fatal illness, to stay on her insurance through age 26, at 
which time he graduated with a master's degree and got a job.
  So this is exactly what this was written for--a 23-24-year-old 
graduating from college, going on to get more school, getting a 
master's degree, preparing himself or herself for something better in 
life. That young man could

[[Page S5898]]

stay on his parents' health insurance plan until he got a job at 27, 
with insurance.
  Chandra in Summit County writes that she recently commented to some 
friends about the surprising benefits she was receiving under the 
Affordable Care Act, and one of her friends suggested she share her 
story with her elected officials. She says: Because of the ACA, we were 
able to switch to my husband's insurance without worrying that I would 
not be covered due to my pregnancy being a preexisting medical 
condition. The ACA had a very real financial impact on my family.
  The question is, Why do some Members of this Congress, all of whom, I 
believe--almost all of whom--are receiving government-sponsored health 
insurance benefits from a good government insurance plan--why do they 
want to deny it to people such as Chandra and people such as Rachel and 
others.
  Chandra says: I am not the type of individual who one would first 
think of when thinking of beneficiaries of the ACA. I have a master's 
degree, my husband and I both work full-time, and our employers also 
offer a full range of medical, prenatal, and optical benefits.
  A few years ago, my husband and I decided to begin growing our 
family. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, there were no copays for my 
prenatal care, suggested immunizations or potential well visits. When 
our son was born, I immediately saw the true impact of the Affordable 
Care Act. Babies have many well visits and the cost of copays and 
immunizations have been a burden to some of my friends. Thanks to the 
ACA, we didn't have that financial burden. Thanks to a combination of 
good insurance and the Affordable Care Act, I was the recipient of a 
very nice, double electric breast pump. I also became the first 
employee at my job to utilize the provisions of the ACA for nursing 
mothers. A few years later, 2 months before our second child was due, I 
had the opportunity to take a better job.
  She goes on.
  The question again is, Why do they want--why do a bunch of 
politicians who have good insurance, paid for by taxpayers--why do they 
want to take these benefits away from the 25-year-old man who now has 
insurance on his parents' plan before he finishes school and goes out 
in the workplace? Why do they want to take away the preventive care 
families now have so when their daughter has an earache they can 
actually go to a family doctor because of the insurance rather than go 
to the emergency room? All of those things just beg the question, Why 
the politics of repealing ObamaCare and repealing the Affordable Care 
Act and taking these benefits away from so many Americans?
  Five hundred thousand Ohioans have insurance, 100,000 more young 
people, a million Ohio seniors getting benefits with no copays and no 
deductibles, preventive care that helps them live longer, healthier 
lives. That is really the question.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.

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