[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 1, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H2987-H2988]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        CALL TO REPLACE SICK CARE SYSTEM WITH HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Phillips) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PHILLIPS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a father, an American, and 
a Congressman in support of H.R. 1425, the Patient Protection and 
Affordable Care Enhancement Act.
  I rise today as a father because healthcare is personal. I know the 
pain of caring for a sick child. My daughter, Pia, was diagnosed with 
Hodgkin's

[[Page H2988]]

lymphoma when she was just 14 years old.
  Parents and children who have been through the fear, the 
hospitalizations, the chemotherapy, and the years of anxiety-evoking 
follow-ups know the nightmare all too well because they have lived it.
  But Pia and our family are among the lucky ones. She survived cancer 
and is now a thriving 20-year-old pursuing her college studies.
  And I know how lucky I was to be at Pia's bedside during the toughest 
days and to do so without worrying about how I was going to pay her 
medical bills.
  I know, in fact, we all know that this is not the case for too many 
American families throughout our country.
  We need this legislation because it will lower healthcare costs, 
costs that are the very highest in the entire world, yet our outcomes 
are mid-pack.
  In the United States of America, we should have the highest quality 
care in the world, the most efficient delivery of care in the world, 
and the best value in the world. In the United States of America, the 
wealthiest nation in the entire world, no one should have to choose 
between seeing their doctor or seeing food on their table--no one.
  I rise today as an American because healthcare is patriotic. I am 
sick and tired of Americans paying more money for less quality than 
other nations. And I am sick and tired of Americans paying more money 
for the very same lifesaving medications than patients in other 
countries.
  Americans are getting ripped off, and we, every single one of us in 
this Chamber, can do something about it. Ensuring that every American 
has access to high-quality and affordable healthcare and medications is 
indeed a moral decision, but it is also an economic decision.
  Let's not kid ourselves. We do not have a healthcare system in our 
country; we have a sick care system. And it is not even a system, which 
has made the epic failure of our Nation's COVID response even more 
glaring.

  You see, we tolerate, even condone, incentives for procedures over 
prevention and profit over people. It is costing us billions of dollars 
and bankrupting thousands of families and, surely, costing American 
lives.
  We need this legislation because there is meaningful economic and 
societal value in ensuring that every American enjoys healthcare 
coverage no matter their age, their race, their gender, their ZIP Code, 
their income, or their condition.
  I rise today as a Congressman because finding common ground, building 
consensus, and fixing our broken healthcare system is my job. I am on a 
mission to inspire collaboration in this Chamber and restore Americans' 
faith in government, and I cannot imagine a better place to begin than 
healthcare.
  Let's rise to this moment and improve it together.
  Mr. Speaker, we need this legislation because it will help all 
Americans, not red State or blue State Americans, but all Americans.
  We need this legislation because no one in this country, Republican, 
Democrat, independent, or otherwise, thinks that our healthcare system 
is working.
  We need this legislation because healthcare is collective, and this 
pandemic presents an extraordinary opportunity to build a true health 
system in this country. COVID-19 has taught us that one's health and 
well-being are directly dependent on the health and well-being of one's 
entire community.
  We are in this together, and we must take care of one another 
together.
  We need this legislation because whether it is my daughter, Pia, a 
cancer survivor, or Cindy with diabetes in Eden Prairie or Nikki with 
MS in Brooklyn Park or every single mother in our country who has ever 
given birth to a child, preexisting conditions are part of being human 
and should never be a barrier to care.
  We need to pass this legislation because it is personal, it is 
patriotic, and it is our job.
  I am grateful to my colleagues in this House for doing so yesterday, 
and I call on our colleagues in the Senate to join us in ensuring a 
healthier and more equitable future for every single American.

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