[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 2, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H2947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
             HEALTHCARE SYSTEM THAT WORKS FOR ALL AMERICANS

  (Mr. PHILLIPS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PHILLIPS. Madam Speaker, while traveling recently through my home 
State of Minnesota, I met a wonderful couple in their early 60s. They 
were both teachers who had dedicated their professional lives to 
enriching our community by educating our children.
  They had done everything right, saved as much money as they could, 
and it was time to retire, until the husband was diagnosed with early-
onset Alzheimer's. Now, the out-of-pocket costs for his care will wipe 
out all of their retirement savings--all of their savings.
  Madam Speaker, I ask: What is our President thinking?
  This is an all-too-common story played out in blue and red districts 
throughout our Nation. Yet, we have a White House determined to wipe 
out the Affordable Care Act. It is callous; it is wrong; and it is 
unacceptable. It is time for us to make the moral decision to ensure 
that all Americans have access to affordable, high-quality healthcare, 
no matter their circumstances.
  That is why we just introduced a bill in the House, led by my 
Minnesota colleague, Angie Craig, to reduce premiums and lower 
healthcare costs. That is why I am a cosponsor of Congressman Doggett's 
bill to make prescription drugs more affordable.
  There is hard work to be done to make our health system work for all 
Americans, and we are doing it in the House.
  I say to President Trump and my Republican colleagues that it is not 
too late to abandon this misguided effort to dismantle the ACA and join 
us to work on real solutions. That is what we are sent here to do.

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