[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 24, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H7091]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                UNDERMINING INSURANCE IN THE MARKETPLACE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Gallego) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GALLEGO. Mr. Speaker, I want to speak about a brave young woman, 
an Arizonan named Vanessa Ramirez.
  When she was just 23 years old, Vanessa received a devastating 
diagnosis. Doctors told her that she had ovarian cancer, yet Vanessa 
refused to put her dreams on hold. She somehow managed to fit in 
chemotherapy sessions between her classes at Arizona State.
  Eventually, Vanessa pulled through. She beat cancer, and, today, she 
has two happy, healthy kids.
  Vanessa has overcome a lot in her young life, but thanks to the 
Affordable Care Act, there is one challenge she won't be forced to 
endure: going without health insurance.
  Despite her preexisting condition, Vanessa was able to purchase an 
affordable plan through the ObamaCare marketplace. Her children are 
also covered under KidsCare, our State's Children's Health Insurance 
Program. However, if Donald Trump gets his way, Vanessa's story soon 
could take a sad turn.
  Having abolished the individual mandate, Republican State attorneys 
general, backed by President Trump, are now arguing in court that rules 
prohibiting insurers from charging higher rates on the basis of a 
preexisting condition or even denying coverage completely should be 
ruled unconstitutional.
  The mandate is so central to ObamaCare, Republicans claim that, 
without it, the courts should simply throw out the whole Affordable 
Care Act altogether. Their arguments are clearly baseless. But if 
Republicans succeed, millions of Americans like Vanessa could quickly 
lose their coverage.
  Of course, that is not all the Trump administration is doing to 
undermine the Affordable Care Act. President Trump blocked cost-sharing 
reduction payments to insurers, sending shock waves of uncertainty 
through insurance markets across the Nation and raising costs for 
consumers in premiums. Trump also cut open-enrollment periods and 
slashed funding to help Americans sign up for insurance.
  Trump and the GOP don't care about the people they are hurting. His 
only objective is to erase the legacy of his predecessor.
  Mr. Speaker, no issue crystalizes the differences between our two 
political parties like this one. Democrats don't think your insurance 
company should be allowed to drop you because you get sick. Democrats 
don't believe you should go bankrupt and lose your home simply because 
you get in an accident. Democrats are committed to the belief that 
healthcare is a right, not a privilege, for every single American.
  On the other hand, Republicans want to turn back the clock to a time 
when a minor diagnosis could lead to the loss of coverage, when young 
people were kicked off their parents' plan as soon as they turned 18, 
when simply being a woman somehow qualified as a preexisting condition. 
That is not right.
  Mr. Speaker, Republicans couldn't repeal the Affordable Care Act in 
Congress. Now they are just trying to sabotage it from the White House, 
and millions of Americans, like Vanessa Ramirez, could lose access to 
lifesaving care as a result. We can't allow that to happen.

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