[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 24, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1760-S1761]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, as a Member of Congress, I have cast a 
number of important votes over the years, votes on whether to send our 
Nation's brave servicemembers to war or to impeach a President, but 
perhaps the most important vote I have ever cast was 11 years ago this 
week, in support of the Affordable Care Act.
  Since the law's passage in 2010, the ACA has provided health 
insurance to more than 23 million Americans, including nearly 1 million 
Illinoisans. That is almost 1 out of every 20 people

[[Page S1761]]

living in my home State. Thanks to the ACA, they are now covered. That 
measure was called the Affordable Care Act for a reason: It is 
estimated to have saved every family in America about $4,000 in health 
insurance premiums.
  I don't think any of us could have predicted 11 years ago just how 
important the protections it guaranteed to Americans would become. Then 
came the coronavirus. In the year since the pandemic was declared, the 
virus has claimed more than half a million American lives. That is more 
than the number of American lives lost in World War I, World War II, 
and the Vietnam war combined.
  We grieve with every family who has suffered a loss, and we know 
there are millions more Americans who have been affected by the virus. 
Thirty million of our family members, friends, colleagues, and 
neighbors have been diagnosed with COVID-19. That is 30 million 
Americans who are now living with a preexisting condition. We have 
heard stories about the so-called long-haulers, individuals who report 
they are still having health problems months after their original 
diagnosis. They are struggling with shortness of breath, trouble 
sleeping, severe fatigue, and other symptoms that NIH Director Dr. 
Francis Collins has deemed a ``significant public health concern.''
  These Americans have enough to worry about as it is with their 
recovery; could you imagine if they also had to worry about being able 
qualify for health coverage? In a world without the ACA, they would 
have. Before the ACA was the law of the land, people could be denied 
health coverage or charged significantly higher premiums for having 
diabetes or asthma--even acne.
  Could you imagine if this pandemic hit before we passed that law? The 
tens of millions of Americans who would have to wonder how they were 
going to pay for their care, their children's care, in the middle of a 
pandemic?
  Thanks to the ACA, they are covered. It has been a lifeline for 
millions of Americans, like Michelle Crifasi, one of my neighbors in 
Springfield, IL. Recently, Michelle wrote to me about what the ACA has 
meant for her and her family. For much of her life, Michelle was 
burdened with an unknown illness, until she was finally diagnosed with 
common variable immune deficiency in her mid-thirties. It is a rare 
condition that limits the immune system's ability to fight infection. 
The diagnosis was bittersweet. While she could finally begin to 
understand and treat her condition, she later learned that she had 
passed it down to her daughter. Her husband also developed it after 
undergoing cancer treatment.
  The good news is that Michelle and her family have health insurance 
through her employer, and because of the Affordable Care Act, this 
employer-based health plan can no longer deny Michelle health coverage 
or charge her higher premiums because she has a preexisting condition. 
Her insurer can no longer impose annual or lifetime caps on her care. 
It can't cut her off right when she needs healthcare the most. 
Michelle's daughter, Meredith, a junior at the University of Illinois-
Springfield, is able to stay on her parents' plan until age 26. Because 
of the ACA, Michelle's health plan must cover her family's prescription 
drug costs.
  Without insurance coverage, treating common variable immune 
deficiency can cost patients more than $100,000 a year. Put simply, 
these protections were not in place before the Affordable Care Act, and 
Michelle and her family are alive today because of these protections. 
This family's story is proof that the ACA is one of the greatest 
legislative accomplishments in modern American history, and it is also 
proof that there is a lot more we can do to protect people like her and 
her family.
  While Michelle is grateful for the ACA, she recently told me that ``I 
feel there is more work to be done.'' And she is right, which is why we 
fought, as part of the American Rescue Plan, to expand health insurance 
subsidies and eligibility for plans covered under the ACA. These 
provisions will ensure that no enrollee spends more than 8.5 percent of 
their income on health insurance premiums. The typical 60-year-old 
couple in Illinois could see their premiums reduced by $1,300.
  The ARP also increases eligibility for premium subsidies to working-
class American families earning more than 400 percent of the Federal 
poverty level.
  Outside of the ARP, the Biden-Harris administration has taken other 
steps to bolster the ACA, like creating a special open enrollment 
period and ensuring that the DOJ defends the law in the case before the 
Supreme Court. All of this is welcome news, and I look forward to 
working with the Biden-Harris administration to accomplish even more. 
That is why we not only celebrate the historic passage of the ACA but 
all of the lives it has saved as well.
  After years of unrelenting, unjustified attacks on this critical 
piece of legislation, we are finally in a position to build on it. I am 
ready to work with the Biden-Harris administration to create a public 
option, lower prescription drug prices, and address racial and ethnic 
disparities in our healthcare system.
  After 11 years since its passage, I am proud to declare: The ACA is 
here to stay.
  And here in Congress, we will continue working to perfect it.

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