[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 8, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H1600-H1601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           REPLACING THE ACA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Heck) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HECK. Madam Speaker, today I would like to share a letter I 
received from Sherry, who lives back in my hometown of Olympia, 
Washington.
  Sherry writes to me:

       My husband was a veteran. He worked as a civilian with high 
     security clearance at White Sands Missile Range and later as 
     a paramedic and firefighter. When I met him, I was working as 
     a paramedic, also. We were crazy in love. But I lost him to 
     cancer in 2009, at the age of 56.
       Since the day my husband died, we lost his income. I had to 
     figure out how to raise our son, who was then 6. I sold my 
     business on the Oregon coast, lost my house in Newport, and 
     moved to Washington to be with my sister. I found Olympia a 
     year later and have been here since. I have qualified for 
     food stamps for the last 8 years. We have depended on the 
     food bank on and off.
       When all this happened, that was before ObamaCare, and the 
     $1,000 monthly premium for insurance for my family was simply 
     not sustainable. At first, I was able to keep my insurance 
     through COBRA. But after that ran out, we were left to paying 
     for some cut-rate insurance that provided very little 
     coverage.
       When the Affordable Care Act was enacted, I finally felt 
     relief. I got covered through the ACA, and that allowed me to 
     direct some of the money I was paying to insurance toward 
     food, books, clothing, or tuition. My son is now 13, and 6 
     foot 1, with a size 14 shoe, so we go through clothes and 
     shoes for him like crazy.
       I still struggle. I still have medical bills and 
     collections. I still struggle with food and clothes for both 
     myself and my son. I still go to the Thurston County Food 
     Bank in downtown Olympia. But ObamaCare allows me to follow 
     my health closely and helps me pay for the medical care my 
     son and I require.
       I have a spot on my lung that needs constant monitoring, 
     and ObamaCare has allowed me to go in for those routine MRIs. 
     Preventative services like mammograms are also paid for.
       Since my husband died, I have been focused on raising my 
     son and getting a higher education degree. I went to massage 
     school, and

[[Page H1601]]

     then I earned my degree at The Evergreen State College. I 
     will graduate with a master's degree in psychology in August. 
     Not only will I be employable and be able to help others in 
     the mental health field, I will also get to start whittling 
     away at paying old medical bills and my student loans.
       Although I will no longer need ObamaCare since I will have 
     health insurance through my employer, the ACA has forever 
     changed the insurance marketplace. The insurers can't charge 
     me more for my preexisting condition like they could before.
       If the ACA had been in place when my husband died, I would 
     have been able to keep my business on the Oregon coast. If 
     the ACA had been in place when my husband died, I would have 
     immediately qualified for insurance under the ACA, and I may 
     have been able to keep our house. I want you to know, I am 
     not lazy. I am a determined, self-improving mom who is 
     raising her son alone. Before the ACA, I had to decide 
     whether to pay for insurance or food. I depend on the ACA.

  That is the letter from Sherry.
  Madam Speaker, this past Saturday, I had the opportunity to meet with 
more than 300 of my constituents who support accessible, affordable 
health care in our country. I heard from many, but still a small 
portion of the 750,000 Washingtonians who gained coverage through the 
ACA.
  The ACA is working for many people across America, and Congress 
should not reverse the progress we have made under it. That being said, 
I know there are parts of the ACA that could be improved upon. We all 
know that. We can and should make improvements in order to make 
healthcare insurance more affordable and more accessible to more people 
across our Nation. As we began this Congress, I had hope that we could 
have a productive, bipartisan discussion about the steps we could take 
to do just that, but I was saddened and, frankly, dismayed by the lack 
of serious policy efforts from my friends on the other side of the 
aisle.
  Well, the majority finally released their proposed replacement for 
the ACA, the so-called American Health Care Act, after weeks of hiding 
this secret bill behind closed doors. Frankly, I am not impressed by 
the bill. This bill offers no attempts to improve healthcare coverage 
or insurance coverage, no attempts to reduce healthcare costs or the 
rate of inflation. This bill allows insurance to charge older people 
more while, at the same time, reducing the subsidies for many of those 
very same people. The bill was presented without any indication of how 
it will affect our budget or how many people will be kicked off their 
insurance under this plan.
  This bill does not address the barriers that prevent working class 
and middle class people from accessing and securing health insurance. 
In fact, the bill would likely put health insurance out of reach for 
millions of Americans who are in the working and middle classes.
  Madam Speaker, to earn the label ``American,'' a bill had better be 
exceptional. The American Health Care Act is a lot of things, but 
exceptional is not one of them. People like Sherry are exceptional. 
Let's put Sherry and people in her circumstances first.

                          ____________________