[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 19 (Friday, February 3, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H963]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1130
                 DON'T REPEAL ACA WITHOUT A REPLACEMENT

  (Mr. HECK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HECK. Mr. Speaker, Shirley is from my district, and I heard from 
her this past December when she told me about her daughter, Sarah. 
Sarah has had health problems all of her life and, unfortunately, 
because it has been too expensive, she has not been able to afford 
health insurance, but she was finally able to be covered under the 
Affordable Care Act because of the historic Medicaid expansion. It made 
a big difference in her life because just 2 years ago, she was 
diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
  Now, Sarah may be just a statistic to some, and, indeed, she is 1 of 
601,000 Washingtonians who have been covered under the Medicaid 
expansion; 20,000 of whom have been treated for cancer.
  But to Sarah's mother, Sarah can't just be boiled down to an ACA 
statistic. To Shirley, Sarah is her daughter who will lose this 
coverage if Congress repeals the healthcare law without a comparable 
replacement. It would put Sarah, in her fight against thyroid cancer, 
back to square one.
  Friends and colleagues, I plead with you, go to your districts. Talk 
to the Shirleys; talk to the Sarahs. Listen to them.
  Their stories matter because they matter.

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