[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 22 (Monday, February 8, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S693-S694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  Mr. REID. Madam President, last week marked the end of an open 
enrollment for the health exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. 
The numbers are in, and once again millions of Americans signed up for 
quality health care. Normally--it is normal now, and each year it keeps 
going up--nationally almost 13 million Americans selected their plans 
through health insurance marketplaces. In Nevada, almost 90,000 people 
enrolled in Nevada's health exchange. That represents a 20-percent 
increase over 2015 enrollment numbers.
  These numbers are further evidence that the Affordable Care Act--
ObamaCare--is working. The law is helping Americans get access to 
quality health care, many for the first time in their entire lives. 
That is why it is particularly frustrating to watch Republicans 
continue banging their heads when it comes to ObamaCare. Last Tuesday--
Groundhog Day, fittingly--House Republicans voted for the 63rd time to 
repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act. That is 63 times House 
Republicans have ignored all the evidence that proves the Affordable 
Care Act is helping their constituents.
  It is not just House Republicans; it seems as if every day my friend 
the Republican leader comes to the floor and rails against ObamaCare. 
He has led Senate Republicans in voting to repeal or defund the 
Affordable Care Act 17 different times. Yet more than 10 percent of the 
Republican leader's own constituents are benefiting from the

[[Page S694]]

Affordable Care Act. Madam President, 500,000 Kentucky residents use 
ObamaCare--half a million people.
  Last week an Associated Press article highlighted the fact that 
Kentucky has seen the largest drop in the percentage of its uninsured. 
I will read from an AP story:

       Kentucky and Arkansas had the largest drops in the 
     percentage of people without health insurance in the country, 
     according to the Gallup-Healthways survey. In 2013, more than 
     20 percent of Kentuckians did not have health insurance. By 
     the end of 2015, after the State expanded its Medicaid 
     program and created a health-insurance exchange, that figure 
     was down to 7.5 percent.

  There it is in black and white. In 2013, 20 percent of Kentuckians 
didn't have health insurance, and now it is down to 7.5 percent. That 
is a remarkably strong decrease of the uninsured. If my friend the 
Republican leader had his way and repealed ObamaCare, all progress in 
Kentucky would be gone.
  Sadly, Kentucky's tea party Governor is following in Senator 
McConnell's footsteps. Gov. Matt Bevin wants to tear apart his State's 
health exchange, regardless of the impact on his constituents. I will 
read again from the AP article:

       Bevin, a Republican, has already given the order to 
     dismantle Kynect, Kentucky's state-based exchange. And he 
     plans to repeal Kentucky's Medicaid expansion and replace it 
     with something else that [would] mean fewer people would be 
     eligible and the ones who stay eligible would have to pay a 
     small premium. Bevin needs approval from the federal 
     government to do that. If he does not get it, Bevin has said 
     he would repeal the expansion entirely.

  It is time for Republicans to accept the fact that ObamaCare is here 
to stay. It is not going anyplace. Once and for all, it has moved past 
repeal. Start making the Affordable Care Act work even better for the 
American people.

                          ____________________