[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 16, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4831-S4832]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Madam President, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 20 million 
Americans gained health insurance--including more than 1 million in 
IIlinois. Thanks to the law, the uninsured rate in Illinois has been 
cut in half. People with preexisting conditions can no longer be denied 
health insurance coverage or be charged higher premiums. This protects 
5 million people in Illinois with a preexisting condition. Insurance 
companies are no longer allowed to impose annual or lifetime caps on 
benefits or deny coverage for maternity care, mental health treatment, 
prescription drugs, or hospitalizations. Young people are allowed to 
stay on their parents' health plans until age 26 and seniors in the 
dreaded Medicare donut hole are saving money on their prescription 
drugs. Thanks to the law's Medicaid expansion, rural hospitals in 
Illinois have found a critical lifeline to help alleviate economic 
challenges. Yet, just last week, the Trump administration and 18 
Republican-led States argued in a Federal court that the entire law 
should be thrown out--ruled unconstitutional. If President Trump is 
successful, more than 600,000 people in Illinois will lose their health 
insurance. Nearly 5 million Illinoisans with preexisting conditions 
will, once again, be at risk of discrimination.
  Two years ago, President Trump tried to convince Congress to repeal

[[Page S4832]]

the Affordable Care Act. He failed. So what President Trump couldn't do 
with a Republican-controlled House and Senate--eliminate health 
insurance for 20 million Americans--he is now trying to do through the 
courts. That is right. Rather than defending the law of the land, 
President Trump's Department of Justice is arguing before the U.S. 
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that the entire law is 
unconstitutional. Protections for people with preexisting conditions? 
President Trump wants them struck down as unconstitutional. A 
prohibition on insurers imposing annual or lifetime caps on benefits? 
President Trump wants that ruled unconstitutional. Tax credits to help 
people afford health insurance? Unconstitutional, according to our 
President. If you thought that the U.S. President would be on the side 
of Americans with preexisting conditions--women in need of maternity 
and newborn care, young adults just out of college, or seniors with 
high drug costs--well, you would be wrong. Instead, President Trump's 
administration is arguing that every single one of these protections 
should be eliminated. If President Trump and Republicans have their way 
in court, insurers will once again be able to discriminate against 
patients with preexisting conditions and impose arbitrary caps on 
benefits, millions will be thrown off health insurance, and families 
nationwide will pay more.
  Earlier this year, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives 
said: Not on our watch. That is right. On a bipartisan basis, the House 
passed the Protecting Americans with Pre-existing Conditions Act. This 
bill would prevent President Trump from once again allowing health 
insurance companies to discriminate against people with preexisting 
conditions. The House didn't stop there. They also passed a bill to 
restore funding to programs that help people sign up for health 
insurance, and they passed a bill to limit the sale of junk plans.
  Why is the Affordable Care Act so important? Why are these House-
passed patient protection bills so important? Why is this court case so 
important? They are important because of people like Nathan from Sleepy 
Hollow, IL, who recently wrote to me about his brother. Nathan wrote:

       My 12-year old brother has Crohn's Disease and his 
     treatments are very expensive. . . . I worry about whether he 
     will be able to still have insurance if the ACA is 
     overturned. . . . Please do everything you can to help.

  To Nathan and his brother, I say this: The House of Representatives 
is attempting to help you. Unfortunately, the Republican-controlled 
Senate is not. What is the Senate, under McConnell's watch, doing 
instead? Nothing. Rather than address the existential threat facing 
America's health care system, the Senate HELP Committee advanced 
legislation that is stunningly silent on protections for preexisting 
conditions. Republicans are abdicating their legislative duty to 
preserve healthcare in America. As my colleague, Senator Chris Murphy, 
said during the HELP Committee markup, we are applying a bandaid to one 
arm, while the other is being sawed right off. Republicans on the HELP 
Committee announced grand plans to lower prescription drug costs and 
shield patients from surprise medical bills, but all they really did is 
tinker around the edges of the problems. Similarly, the Senate 
Judiciary Committee was slated to tackle the outrageous cost of 
prescription drugs. Yet what emerged from committee was the bare 
minimum of legislative action. When will Congress get serious about 
going after drug companies that are gouging the American public? When 
will congressional Republicans stop tweeting and issuing press releases 
about preexisting conditions and instead do something--anything--to 
help protect people in need? Talk is cheap, but, unfortunately, it is 
all congressional Republicans know how to do.