[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 144 (Thursday, September 22, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H5803-H5804]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             ACA IS WORKING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Quigley) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today and ask you to consider where 
we were before the Affordable Care Act: premiums were rising three 
times faster than wages, eating up much more of Americans' hard-earned 
paychecks; millions more families were drowning in medical debt; 
Americans had to pay for critical preventive services like flu shots, 
yearly checkups, and birth control; many young 20-somethings went 
without insurance; your suffering child could be denied coverage due to 
a preexisting condition; the so-called ``doughnut hole,'' or gap in 
Medicare part D coverage, was forcing many seniors to choose between 
buying food to put on the table or livesaving prescription pills; women 
were charged more than men for coverage simply for being women; 
insurance companies could set annual or lifetime dollar caps on 
benefits, sticking American families with the remainder of the bill.
  Thankfully, in the 6 years since the ACA was enacted, 20 million 
Americans have insurance for the first time in their lives, and the 
uninsured rate is the lowest it has been in American history, currently 
at 8.6 percent. The ACA has helped 105 million Americans, including 
39.5 million women and nearly 28 million children, by preventing 
healthcare plans from capping benefits.
  We have also seen that the marketplace is working better in States 
where elected officials collaborated to implement the ACA rather than 
trying to undermine it. In States that chose to expand Medicaid, 
insurance rates are an estimated 7 percent lower. In contrast, 
Governors and legislatures in 19 States have blocked Medicaid 
expansion, even as millions of their lowest income residents go without 
insurance coverage.
  Unfortunately, over the past few years, it has been popular around 
here to say that the ACA is a failure, that it has socialized medicine, 
it is driving down the quality of American health care, and that we 
need to ``repeal and replace'' it because ObamaCare isn't working. This 
mindset is all wrong because, I am happy to report, the ACA is working. 
However, faster progress has been prevented due to obstruction and 
politics.
  Since being signed into law in 2010, my colleagues across the aisle 
have voted to repeal all or parts of the ACA over 60 times. This has 
prevented funding needed for implementation and necessary fixes to the 
law. It is time, once and for all, for Congress to accept the ACA as 
the law of the land and begin working to improve the law, not repeal 
it.
  Now, I understand there are challenges as the law continues to take 
deeper roots throughout the healthcare industry. As they prepared for 
ACA, some insurance companies set prices too low, and they are now 
adjusting them in response; but I want to remind everyone that the 
insurance marketplace was dynamic before the ACA and will continue to 
be dynamic.
  The ACA calls for a more innovative approach to health care, and many 
insurance companies have adapted so that they can focus on coordinated 
care and care management, for example. When insurance companies were 
still able to discriminate based on preexisting conditions, they 
excluded or undervalued expensive patients--the same people who had the 
most healthcare needs. Now that actual data is available, the market is 
undergoing a natural correction to bring prices in line with costs.
  It is important to note that shopping on the marketplace has proven 
to help all consumers find the best price for coverage. According to 
the Department of Health and Human Services, almost half of returning 
healthcare.gov consumers switched plans and saved an average of $42 per 
month.
  I understand that challenges with the ACA remain. That is why HHS is 
taking steps to address these problems. Congress has a duty to look for 
policy solutions that improve everyone's access to the best care 
available and to make that care affordable. There are real ways that 
Congress can provide stability to the healthcare marketplace, and I 
urge my colleagues to bring some of these solutions to the floor.

[[Page H5804]]

  I was proud to vote for the ACA, and when the majority is ready to 
get serious, I will be proud to vote for commonsense improvements and 
reforms to the law. The American public have spoken, and they will not 
return to the days before healthcare reform. It is time for Congress to 
listen to the American people.

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