[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 41 (Thursday, March 9, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H1957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRUMPCARE COSTS MORE AND DELIVERS LESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, in listening to my colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle this morning, I am struck by the adage, 
``You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your 
own facts.''
  I think it is important to note that the reality of the passage of 
the Affordable Care Act in 2010 was that there were hundreds of hours 
of hearings, many opportunities for all Members to provide input, 
mandatory processes that allowed for changes to that legislation that 
eventually became law, discussion, and a CBO analysis that shed light 
on the true cost--nothing like what has been described during the 24-
hour whirlwind in the middle of the night that has resulted in the 
ramming through of legislation that will clearly increase costs and 
cover fewer individuals.
  Mr. Speaker, as a mother, a breast cancer survivor, and a proud 
Floridian, I rise today in opposition to the majority's irresponsible 
proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
  After preaching for 7 years about a superior alternative to 
ObamaCare, my colleagues across the aisle have finally revealed their 
TrumpCare plan to the American people.
  As you might expect from TrumpCare, it promises more, delivers less, 
has fewer protections, and costs more. In other words, it will make 
America sick again.
  To add insult to injury, my Republican colleagues have moved this 
bill under the cover of darkness, without any hearings or even an 
analysis of its cost from the Congressional Budget Office.
  However, we do have an earlier CBO report that estimates that 15 
million people would lose health insurance just as a result of 
repealing the individual mandate, which this bill, of course, does.
  Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that President Trump told 
129 million Americans like me, as a breast cancer survivor with 
preexisting conditions, that he would preserve the ACA provision 
prohibiting insurance companies from dropping us or denying us 
coverage, but he and his Republican colleagues in the House broke their 
promise and did not keep their word.
  The bill would once again allow insurance companies to charge people 
higher premiums when they have a preexisting condition, which will make 
coverage unaffordable. That is unconscionable.
  This bill will also punish millions of people who experience a lapse 
in coverage. Before we had the Affordable Care Act, an estimated 59.1 
million people lacked continuous coverage for at least part of the 
previous year.
  One of those 59.1 million people was Suzanne Boyd from my district in 
Sunrise, Florida, who, with two daughters heading to college, was just 
starting to realize her dream of owing her own special events small 
business as her full-time job. Suzanne had insurance coverage for years 
through her husband's employer-sponsored health plan, until 2012, when 
her husband, Mark, died of lung cancer. Two weeks later, the family 
lost their employer-sponsored health insurance. Only 5 months after 
that, Suzanne, now widowed and uninsured, was diagnosed with Hodgkin 
lymphoma.
  As Suzanne has said, before the Affordable Care Act, she wouldn't 
even have been able to think about starting her own business. She 
probably would have looked for another corporate job with health 
benefits. But knowing she would soon be able to obtain insurance under 
the ACA and that her preexisting condition couldn't be held against her 
when she applied, she started her company in 2013. She eventually 
qualified for a plan that cost her $192 a month with substantial 
government subsidies.

                              {time}  1100

  Under the Republican plan, people like Suzanne may be forced to pay a 
30 percent higher premium each month in order to receive care.
  Make no mistake: these massive increases in healthcare costs dumped 
on the backs of American working families will only benefit the 
wealthiest few. The 400 richest families in America will see a tax 
break worth $7 million a year. That would make the GOP bill one of the 
largest transfers in wealth from low- and middle-income families to the 
wealthiest in recent memory.
  This tax cut for the wealthy will also fall on the shoulders of 
seniors across America who will be forced to pay premiums five times 
higher than what younger individuals pay for health coverage. Not only 
is that cruel, but it is also unsustainable.
  According to the 2016 Medicare Trustees Report, the Medicare trust 
fund is solvent until 2028, 11 years longer than what was expected 
before the enactment of the Affordable Care Act reforms. In contrast, 
as the AARP noted, certain repeal provisions in the GOP bill could 
hasten the insolvency of Medicare by up to 4 years and diminish 
Medicare's ability to pay for services in the future.
  Millions of seniors depend on Medicare in conjunction with Medicaid 
to cover their long-term care needs, but Republicans' plans to make 
America sick again would destroy Medicaid as we know it. At least 11 
million Americans stand to lose their healthcare coverage with the 
passage of this bill. And if you are fortunate enough not to be one of 
those 11 million, well, then I hope you are not, either, one of the 
tens of millions of seniors with long-term care needs, Americans with 
disabilities, pregnant women, children, or others who rely on Medicaid, 
because these drastic cuts and per capita caps are going to hurt them, 
too.
  TrumpCare's assault on Medicaid will also disproportionately affect 
women. This is an unconscionable piece of legislation that must have 
the light of day shining on it and that must not be allowed to become 
law. Democrats will stand in the breach to make sure that Americans 
don't get sick like they used to.

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