[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 77 (Thursday, May 4, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H4173]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    WE ARE NOT GOING FORWARD IN HEALTH CARE, WE ARE GOING BACKWARDS

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, in 2010, I was here and voted for the 
Affordable Care Act. It passed. It was one of the most proudest moments 
I have had in Congress.
  My father was a doctor who provided health care. I know what health 
care is like. I suffered from polio at age 5, and have been a constant 
recipient of health care. Every American should have had that right.
  What happened today was cruel, mean, and heartless. It gave $1 
billion in tax breaks to the richest people in this country. It took 
health care from 24 million people. It made the insurance policies that 
will be available to people less fulsome if they can waive essential 
benefits, and that includes parts of insurance that were essential 
under the Affordable Care Act.
  The policies will be nearly worthless. They will have high 
deductibles, and they will cost people more and more because the 
credits are not as much as the subsidies.
  The poor were hurt, the middle class were hurt, and seniors were 
hurt. It is a sad day when that was cheered, and a day that will go 
down as one of the worst days in the history of this House. We are not 
going forward and providing people with the care they need in health 
care; we are going backwards. I rue this day.

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