[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 105 (Tuesday, June 20, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3654-S3655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Healthcare Legislation

  Mr. President, I rise today to join my Democratic colleagues in 
speaking out against the dangerous TrumpCare bill which is currently 
being drafted behind closed doors by our Republican colleagues.
  The secrecy around this bill shows that Senate Republicans know they 
cannot defend it to their constituents. That is why Senate Republicans 
are refusing to even hold a single hearing on the bill. In my State of 
New Hampshire, you can't pass a bill if it has not

[[Page S3655]]

had a hearing, and the Senate here in Washington should work the same 
way. I continue to urge my colleagues to hold public hearings on this 
bill so that we can examine the bill for ourselves and get feedback 
from our constituents and stakeholders.
  We do know that this legislation will be very similar to the House 
TrumpCare bill, which President Trump himself called mean, and calling 
it mean is even putting it lightly. TrumpCare threatens to have 
devastating impacts on millions of Americans. Today I am going to 
address three specific ways that TrumpCare is mean to people in New 
Hampshire and across the Nation. First, it undermines the Medicaid 
Program; second, it hurts our seniors; and third, it continues this 
administration's efforts to roll back women's access to healthcare.
  As Governor, I worked to pass and then reauthorize New Hampshire's 
bipartisan Medicaid expansion plan that provides coverage now to over 
50,000 hard-working Granite Staters. And TrumpCare, by proposing to 
repeal Medicaid expansion, hurts many of the hard-working people who 
are served now by that expansion program and whose care depends on the 
expansion program being continued. This includes people like Jo from 
Portsmouth.
  I met Jo at a roundtable earlier this year. Jo has a painful, 
precancerous disease that eats at her abdominal organs. She has had it 
for most of her life. Prior to the Great Recession, she had a job that 
provided health insurance and allowed her to get treatment for this 
chronic health condition. But in 2009 Jo was laid off from her job. 
Then unable to find reliable, full-time work, she worked several part-
time jobs, but they didn't offer health insurance.
  In 2012, she desperately needed surgery. She didn't have health 
insurance. She couldn't get the surgery. Her health declined, the 
recession continued, and her ability to support herself also declined.
  In 2014, after New Hampshire came together and passed its bipartisan 
Medicaid expansion program, she was able to get healthcare coverage. 
The Medicaid expansion program helps her get 8 to 12 prescriptions, 
necessary medical tests, physical therapy, treatment, and specialists. 
This has also meant that Jo is healthy enough to work again. TrumpCare 
would end Medicaid expansion, putting people like Jo at risk.
  TrumpCare also changes Medicaid into a per-capita cap system. That is 
a fancy label for massive cuts to the Medicaid Program that would force 
States to choose between slashing benefits, reducing the number of 
people who can get care, or both. Under TrumpCare, States will be faced 
with cutting services that children, people with disabilities, and 
seniors depend on.
  This brings me to the second point I would like to highlight today 
about this mean bill and whom it impacts. It is clear that TrumpCare 
would hurt seniors across the Granite State. The majority of nursing 
home residents in New Hampshire are served by Medicaid. TrumpCare would 
jeopardize the ability of seniors to stay in nursing homes. It would 
also threaten services for seniors who receive at-home care. And these 
cuts to Medicaid are just one of the ways seniors would be hurt under 
this mean proposal, because TrumpCare would also create an age tax, 
letting insurance plans charge older adults five times more than 
younger people. If you are between the ages of 50 and 64, you will be 
especially hard hit.
  According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, under 
TrumpCare, you could face 20 percent higher premiums in 2018, with 
especially high premium hikes for older Americans. And the AARP opposes 
TrumpCare because it would ``make healthcare less secure and less 
affordable.''
  Finally, my third point is that it is clear that TrumpCare would 
continue this administration's efforts to roll back women's access to 
critical healthcare services. To compete economically on a level 
playing field, women must be able to make their own decisions about if 
and when to start a family. They should not have to pay more than men 
for healthcare, and they should be able to visit providers of their own 
choice who understand their healthcare needs. To fully participate not 
only in our economy, but also in our democracy, women must be 
recognized for their capacity to make their own healthcare decisions, 
just as men are.
  Under TrumpCare, if you are a mother, giving birth could now be 
considered a preexisting condition. TrumpCare would also undermine the 
requirement that insurance companies have to cover essential health 
benefits, including maternity care. And TrumpCare's Medicaid cuts would 
have drastic impacts for women across the country. According to the 
Congressional Budget Office, Medicaid pays for nearly half of all 
births in the United States, and it provides healthcare coverage for 
one in three children across our country.
  TrumpCare also defunds Planned Parenthood, which provides critical 
primary and preventive healthcare services to thousands of New 
Hampshire women, including preventive care, birth control, and cancer 
screenings.
  My Democratic colleagues and I are ready to work with anyone who is 
serious about working to build on the Affordable Care Act and lower 
healthcare costs for hard-working people, but what we do not need is 
legislation that even the President himself admits is mean.
  I will continue working with my colleagues to speak out against and 
defeat TrumpCare, and I urge the people of New Hampshire and people all 
across America to keep making their voices heard and make clear that 
this mean bill is simply unacceptable.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________