[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 111 (Wednesday, June 28, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H5236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       PROVIDING HEALTH INSURANCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I listen to my friend from Ohio, and I 
am just kind of wondering how he gets to his position.
  The Affordable Care Act didn't do away with health savings accounts, 
and that is a fact that can be easily verified. Or the notion that 
somehow Medicaid is a negative because it was expanded, and the 
gentleman's own Governor has been arguing here against the Republican 
plan because it would eviscerate Medicaid. Medicaid provides more 
healthcare than any other program in America.
  Sadly, what we have seen is that the proposals that have been coming 
forward are way off the mark, just like my friend from Ohio a moment 
ago. The claims that it would not cut Medicaid, claims to make the 
system better, and save the Affordable Care Act from collapse are 
mythology.
  The Congressional Budget Office report--these are the independents 
scorekeepers, and, in fact, the head of the Congressional Budget Office 
was appointed by the Republicans, their 49-page report that is 
available online to any Member of Congress, to the public--pointed out 
that the health exchanges are not collapsing. They are actually in 
pretty good shape and they could be made stronger with relatively 
simple changes, because what we have seen for the last 7 years, the 
Republican plan has been to chip away at the Affordable Care Act, to 
make it worse, to create more uncertainty. Recently, the administration 
refused to advertise to help people join this year's enrollment period 
and eliminated enforcement of the mandate, making the market even more 
unstable.
  How do we have such an alternative universe?
  Well, I suggest that one of the problems is that my friends on the 
Republican side of the aisle who crafted the House bill and who are 
working in secret in the Senate crafting the Senate bill listen to the 
wrong people. They listen to a small group, some of whom benefit from 
the Republican approach because there are extra subsidies that go to 
them, or people who benefit from massive tax cuts that, frankly, they 
don't need. They listen to people who are all about political talking 
points and not about the facts of healthcare in America. Most of all, 
they don't talk to real people on the ground who would be affected.
  In what universe is a $773 billion cut over the next 10 years to 
Medicaid not a reduction?
  Tell a 75-year-old widow who is looking at being in a nursing home 
for the rest of her life--6 percent of our Medicaid funding goes to 
people in nursing homes. It is almost half of the total funding. Tell 
them that that is not going to be a cut, that that is not going to 
reduce services, maybe not make it available at all. Sixty-four percent 
of people in nursing homes rely on Medicaid.
  There are 15 million people who are not going to have healthcare if 
the Republican proposal goes into effect, according to the objective 
independent scorekeepers. But you can look at the calculations yourself 
as a member of the public. The Kaiser organization has a calculator 
where you can figure out if people are better off under the existing 
plan or under the Republican alternative. A person in Utah making 
$15,000 would pay $400 after tax credits, but have a $6,000 deductible. 
They are not talking to real people.
  A situation in Baker City, Oregon, a 40-year-old is going to face a 
128 percent increase if the Republican proposal goes into effect.
  A 60-year-old woman in Strong, Maine, making almost $40,000 a year is 
currently eligible for a credit of about $7,000, which means she gets a 
comprehensive policy in 2020 for $4,500. But the Republican Senate plan 
would result in her costs in 2020 being $15,000 a year, one-third of 
her income.
  Mr. Speaker, I invite the public to investigate for themselves and 
see who the Republicans aren't listening to.

                          ____________________