[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 53 (Monday, March 27, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E391]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    AMERICAN HEALTH CARE ACT OF 2017

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 24, 2017

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, never before, in more than two centuries of 
American history, has Congress taken back benefits and replaced them 
with a package that, in turn, reduces benefits in use by the American 
people. The effect on the District of Columbia would be particularly 
disappointing because the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has brought the 
city to virtual universal coverage (only 3.4 percent not covered). 
Moreover, most Americans, including D.C. residents, get their coverage 
through their employers. The untold story about Trumpcare is its effect 
not only on the ACA, but the harmful effects it could have on the one-
sixth of the U.S. economy that is accounted for by healthcare costs.
  The reason Americans oppose Trumpcare is its take-backs: 24 million 
people would lose coverage; premiums and deductibles would increase; 
essential coverage for maternity care, prescription drugs, and 
emergency room visits would end; healthy pre-Medicare elderly would be 
charged five times what others pay; and instead of lengthening the 
Medicare Trust Fund, Trumpcare would shorten it by three years. The 
most devastating effect of repeal would be felt by the lowest-income 
Americans who benefit from the Medicaid expansion in the ACA with the 
end of the Medicaid expansion in 2020. Seventy-four percent of 
Americans, including 54 percent of Republicans, oppose cutting Medicaid 
funding.
  I urge my colleagues to join the American people in voting no: recent 
polls show only 17 percent of the American people support the 
Republican Trumpcare bill.

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