[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 22, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the ongoing 
threat from the Trump administration to healthcare and the guaranteed 
protections that millions of American families depend upon.
  President Trump has tried to pass repeal plans that would take 
people's healthcare away and allow insurance companies to charge more 
for people with preexisting health conditions or those insurance 
companies could deny them coverage altogether.
  When that repeal plan failed to pass in the Senate in the summer of 
2017, instead of working in a bipartisan way to lower healthcare costs, 
President Trump turned to truly sabotaging our healthcare system.
  What do I mean by that?
  The Trump administration made it harder for people to sign up for the 
Affordable Care Act coverage. They have done so by limiting the window 
of time when people can enroll. They have truly created instability in 
the healthcare market, and their sabotage has contributed to premium 
spikes that we have seen across the country, including in my home State 
of Wisconsin.
  The Trump administration has even gone to court to support a lawsuit 
in order to overturn the Affordable Care Act completely, and that, of 
course, would include protections for people with preexisting health 
conditions. They have essentially gone into court to ask the court to 
strike down the Affordable Care Act. Now, if they were to succeed, 
insurance companies will again be able to deny coverage or charge much 
higher premiums for the more than 130 million Americans who have some 
sort of preexisting health condition. The number with preexisting 
health conditions includes some 2 million Wisconsinites.
  What is the President's plan to protect people with preexisting 
health conditions? He doesn't have one, and I don't believe he ever 
will.
  In fact, he has acted in just the opposite vein. This administration 
has expanded junk insurance plans that can deny coverage to people with 
preexisting conditions, and they don't have to cover essential services 
like prescription drugs or emergency room care or maternity care.
  I ask my friends on the other side of the aisle to think about this 
for a moment. President Trump supports overturning the law that 
provides protections for people with preexisting health conditions at 
the same time he is expanding these junk plans that don't provide those 
very protections. If this isn't straight-up sabotage, I really don't 
know what is.
  When I was 9 years old, I got sick. I was really sick. I was in the 
hospital for 3 months. Now, I recovered, but my family still struggled 
because I had been branded with the words ``preexisting health 
condition'' and I was denied insurance coverage.
  That family and personal experience has driven my fight to make sure 
that every American has affordable and quality healthcare coverage.
  Today, because of the Affordable Care Act, those with preexisting 
health conditions cannot be discriminated against. They can't be denied 
healthcare coverage, and they can't be charged discriminatory premiums.
  I want to protect the guaranteed healthcare protections that so many 
millions of Americans now depend upon. I have introduced legislation 
along with my colleague Senator Doug Jones of Alabama to overturn the 
Trump administration's expansion of junk insurance plans.
  The entire Senate Democratic caucus, including the two Independents 
who caucus with us, have supported this legislation. They have signed 
on to this bill. The Nation's top healthcare organizations, 
representing tens of thousands of doctors and physicians, and patients 
and medical students, and other health experts have supported this 
legislation and endorsed it. Anyone who says they support healthcare 
coverage for people with preexisting conditions should support my 
legislation.