[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 10, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CONFRONTING THE REALITY OF HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, the campaign rhetoric and politics of 
the last 7 years now must confront the reality of health care.
  No political party can repeal the basic economics. All of the 
features that make health insurance policies better today--the 
elimination of lifetime limits on health insurance payments; preventing 
denial for preexisting conditions; charging women the same premium as 
men, not more; keeping children on their parents' insurance policies 
until age 26--are wildly popular, but they all increase the cost of 
insurance.
  We cannot allow people to wait until they are sick to get a policy. 
That undermines the very concept of insurance, hence, the mandate to 
have health insurance.
  The truth is that the impact of the Affordable Care Act has resulted 
in healthcare costs rising more slowly than before the act. We have 
expanded coverage and subsidized care for millions of Americans, while 
improving the quality of health insurance. All of these reforms are, in 
fact, working.
  A reckless act to repeal something that is now baked into the 
healthcare system on which millions of Americans rely and benefit 
from--indeed, the entire system benefits from--would have serious 
destabilizing effects beyond the loss of coverage for almost 30 million 
Americans. Republican efforts to weaken Medicaid for the poor and 
disabled and undermine Medicare for the elderly means that almost 100 
million Americans have their health care at risk.
  We will begin the battle fighting any effort by the new 
administration and the suddenly empowered Republican majority to act on 
their campaign rhetoric abolishing ObamaCare but not providing a 
replacement. A repeal without a clear alternative replacement at the 
same time is unacceptable. It is not just unacceptable to Democrats in 
Congress. It is unacceptable to millions of recently insured 
Americans--in fact, millions found in red States--unacceptable to 
healthcare professionals, insurance companies, hospitals, and the vast 
array of other people involved with the healthcare industry. Most 
importantly, it is unacceptable to our families.
  The most unpopular feature of ObamaCare was the name, suggesting, 
perhaps, a simple solution. When identified with the President, the 
Affordable Care Act provisions were 20 percent more unpopular than when 
the act was described in exactly the same terms but the name was 
different. So perhaps we just allow the Republicans to abolish 
``ObamaCare'' and then get back down to work doing what we should have 
been doing for the last 7 years: making the Affordable Care Act better.
  By all means, let's look for ways to make the system less burdensome. 
We can continue to demand accountability, but allow some competition 
with value-based purchasing and negotiation of prescription drug prices 
by the largest pharmaceutical customer in the world: the Federal 
Government. Dealing with skyrocketing prescription drug prices and 
other outrageous practices by some in the pharmaceutical industry will 
find broad support in and out of Congress.
  When the Republican majority and the new administration get serious 
about a replacement that keeps all of their campaign promises and 
protects the industry from chaos and consumers from loss of essential 
coverage, there will be plenty of bipartisan cooperation. But any 
effort of breaking that fundamental promise by denying coverage and 
upsetting the healthcare applecart will be met with strong opposition, 
and, ultimately, they will lose.
  For the sake of the American families and the people who provide 
health care, not only should they lose, they must lose. We must stand 
strong and united on that proposition.

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