[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 8 (Thursday, January 12, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H453]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REPEAL OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
(Mr. AGUILAR asked and was given permission to address the House for
1 minute.)
Mr. AGUILAR. Mr. Speaker, for over 6 years, we have watched House
Republicans attack the Affordable Care Act. The law may not be perfect,
but Republicans can't ignore the fact that the ACA has allowed 30
million Americans to access affordable health care.
Calls and emails have poured into my office from my constituents who
are begging me to do everything in my power to protect their health
care and to strengthen the ACA. Earlier this week I received an email
from Brian in San Bernardino, who shared that his wife didn't have
insurance before the ACA. When the law went into effect, she had a
physical, whereby doctors discovered she had ovarian cancer. It was
caught early and treated, and now she is living healthy in San
Bernardino. If she had not obtained health insurance through the ACA,
she wouldn't have had a preventative screening, which saved her life.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot strip 30 million people of their health care.
We cannot look people in the eyes and say we are doing everything we
can to help them if we allow insurance companies to discriminate
against them and to cap their coverage. I will not compromise their
health care or our future, and neither should you.
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