[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 3 (Thursday, January 5, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H109]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       OPPOSITION TO GOP AGENDA TO REPEAL THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  (Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition 
of the GOP agenda which will repeal the Affordable Care Act and cause 
30 million Americans to lose healthcare coverage.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask the Republicans to please examine the harm that 
this will do. Because of the Affordable Care Act, the uninsured rate in 
Texas has fallen by 28 percent and still has the largest number of 
uninsured Americans, allowing 1.7 million Texans to gain coverage.
  While Texas did not expand Medicaid, the State still benefits from 
many other reforms brought by the Affordable Care Act. For instance, 
Sean, a Ph.D. candidate in economic development at the University of 
Texas at Dallas and his wife, Jamie, relied on the Affordable Care Act 
when their son was born prematurely and with a heart defect that 
required surgery and a transfer to another Dallas hospital. Sean was 
reassured that, with his family's ACA marketplace plan, his newborn son 
would not be denied coverage for lifesaving treatment.
  It is unconscionable to me that the GOP refuses to look at what works 
and what needs improvement in this law instead of a full repeal as the 
only option. This will deeply harm American families.

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