[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 4, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H56-H57]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
             DON'T ABANDON AMERICANS IN NEED OF HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Quigley) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share the story of Mary and 
her son, two of my constituents from the Lakeview community of Chicago. 
Mary wrote to me on her son's behalf, expressing their deep 
appreciation for the Affordable Care Act and what the law has meant for 
their family.
  In 2001, Mary's son was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease 
called Addison's disease. It occurs when your body produces 
insufficient amounts of certain hormones produced by your adrenal 
glands. When left untreated, Addison's disease can be life-threatening.
  At the time of his diagnosis, Mary's son was fully insured through 
his employer. Then, in 2011, Mary's son left his employer to pursue the 
American Dream of entrepreneurship and start a small business on his 
own. Leaving his employer to bravely chase the American Dream meant 
leaving behind his insurance coverage, too. He did not anticipate being 
denied coverage due to a preexisting condition.

[[Page H57]]

  Up to this point, because of treatment covered by his insurance plan, 
he had been able to work to provide for himself and to live 
independently. As he got his new business off the ground, he went 
uninsured and, as a result, encountered several crises with his health. 
He avoided going to the doctor due to high costs and eventually ended 
up in the emergency room. As we all know, preventable emergency visits 
are a major contributor to the overall high healthcare costs that harm 
the entire system.
  Thanks to the President and Congress passing the Affordable Care Act, 
Mary's son was finally able to obtain affordable care when the health 
insurance marketplace first opened in October 2013.
  Mary wrote me to share her son's story. He is one of tens of millions 
of Americans who have directly benefited from the ACA's improvements to 
coverage, consumer protections, costs, and quality. Today, Mary is 
fearful of what the repeal of ACA will mean for her son.
  Unfortunately, despite having 7 years to produce an alternative, the 
majority has failed to offer a true replacement. And what about the 
parts of the ACA that share bipartisan popularity?
  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle and the President-elect 
insist they will craft a plan that maintains popular parts of the law, 
while rejecting the less popular components. Of course, that sounds 
great, but there is one real problem: they have offered absolutely no 
way to pay for any of it.
  In reality, repeal and replace is more simply repeal and go back to 
before--tearing down a much-needed house before a new one is built, 
back to a time when 47 million Americans--nearly 18 percent of the 
population--were uninsured. Mary's son and countless others like him 
cannot afford to go back in time. Repealing ACA will leave 20 million 
Americans, including her son, without affordable health insurance, 
effectively disrupting their care and potentially putting their lives 
at risk.
  To remind us all of the high stakes riding on the ACA repeal, Mary 
wrote, saying: ``As a former Republican and now an Independent voter, I 
am speaking from my heart. The 2016 election result has me truly 
frightened for the health of my son and for my husband and me.''
  Repealing the Affordable Care Act will create a chaotic situation 
that will put real lives in danger. We all share in the responsibility 
to protect the health care of all Americans. Empty rhetoric of 
repealing the ACA is dangerous, but when transformed into real 
legislative action, it can be catastrophic for the constituents that 
elected us to serve and represent them in this body.
  On behalf of Mary's son and other Americans in districts across the 
country, I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to abandon 
their efforts to strip health care from those who need it and, instead, 
work with us to make our country a healthier place for all.

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