[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 22, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H2297-H2298]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      BUILD ON AFFORDABLE COVERAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Castor) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am here today on the floor of 
the House to speak out on behalf of my neighbors back home in the State 
of Florida. I represent a district in the Tampa Bay area. Let me tell 
you, they are very concerned about the impact of this Republican 
healthcare bill.
  What we know about the bill so far, based upon the report of the 
nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, is that the Republican bill 
will rip coverage away from at least 24 million Americans. This is at a 
time when we have made such progress since the adoption of the 
Affordable Care Act.
  Under the Affordable Care Act, about 20 million Americans have gained 
coverage, including about 1.7 million of my neighbors in Florida that 
went shopping on healthcare.gov and found an affordable option.
  The Republican bill would take us backwards. It would also impose 
huge cost increases on everyone. Let me tell you, most people in 
America have their insurance through their employer. And under the 
Affordable Care Act--it hasn't been perfect--what we have seen in the 
State of Florida between the years 2010 and 2015 is the rate of 
increase for my neighbors who have their insurance through their jobs 
has been kept in check. The rate of increase has only been 1.3 percent. 
Before the adoption of the Affordable Care Act, the rate of increase 
was well over 8 percent.
  Why is this happening?
  If you have insurance through your job, you want other people to have 
insurance coverage. That is very important because, if more Americans 
don't have insurance coverage, they show up in the emergency room and 
that cost is passed along to those who have coverage or those on 
Medicare, or the hospital has to take on bad debt, or local governments 
have to raise taxes to cover that care.
  Under this Republican bill, hold on to your wallet because that 
insurance coverage now will be unaffordable for millions of more 
Americans. If you have insurance through your job, like most people do, 
you are now going to end up picking up the cost of people that can no 
longer afford coverage.
  If you are a little bit older, easing into Medicare--maybe you are 50 
to 64--hold on to your wallet. There is a huge age tax in this 
Republican bill.
  I will give you an example from a neighbor of mine back home. Her 
name is Kathy Palmer. She lives in Tampa. She works two part-time jobs. 
She works for an accountant. It is a small business. They cannot afford 
to provide insurance through their small business. She is also working 
to get her degree in accountancy from the University of South Florida. 
Kathy has two part-time jobs. She is age 60. She is going to school to 
get a degree. She has a teenager in high school. She couldn't afford 
insurance coverage before the Affordable Care Act. When the Affordable 
Care Act was adopted, she could go

[[Page H2298]]

shopping on healthcare.gov and get some tax credit help to help afford 
coverage.

  Here is what happened to Kathy in December. She had heart pains. She 
thought she was having a heart attack. She went to the emergency room 
of one of our great local hospitals. Thank goodness, she did not have a 
heart attack.
  Kathy almost had a heart attack, however, when she got the hospital 
bill later. The hospital bill was $70,000. That would bankrupt her. 
Fortunately, she had coverage through the Affordable Care Act at 
healthcare.gov, and ultimately what she paid on that hospital bill was 
only $179.
  This story is repeated over and over again, and I simply do not 
understand why my Republican colleagues think it is wise to make 
coverage unaffordable and increase cost on all Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, the other part of this bill that is kind of flying under 
the radar, but is quite insidious and rather unconscionable is the 
hatchet it takes to the 50-year guarantee that is provided to Americans 
under Medicaid.
  Medicaid serves our neighbors with Alzheimer's. It pays about two-
thirds of the cost of long-term care and skilled nursing, the cost of 
care for the disabled, many children, many pregnant women. It has been 
the law for about 50 years to ensure that, in the United States of 
America, if you have a child born with a complex medical condition or 
you have a parent or grandparent that has to go into a nursing home, 
that your family is not going to be impoverished. That is a valued 
decision we made 50 years ago.
  In this bill, the Republican leadership intends to go back on our 
values and pull the rug out from under our families who rely on 
Medicaid services. They say: Oh, the States will be able to do this. 
The States will have all the flexibility in the world.
  Well, flexibility is a canard for they are going to have less, and we 
are going to ration care.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my Republican colleagues to pull this bill, to 
build on affordable coverage, to build on the cost savings that we have 
made and the progress we have made for these families.

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