[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 202 (Wednesday, December 3, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H5003]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REPUBLICAN HEALTHCARE CRISIS
(Ms. Randall of Washington was recognized to address the House for 5
minutes.)
Ms. RANDALL. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to raise the
alarm on the Republican healthcare crisis.
Speaker Johnson shut the government down for 43 days and kept the
House out of session, effectively running out the clock to find
solutions to address the healthcare affordability crisis created by my
Republican colleagues.
Now we have just 11 session days left before recessing for the
holidays, and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have offered
zero solutions.
At the end of the month, the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax
credits will officially expire, leaving 24 million Americans who
currently purchase healthcare on the exchange in an unimaginable
position. While Mike Johnson may be sleeping soundly and enjoying the
holidays with his family, millions of Americans will be up at night
worrying about how they are going to pay for health insurance on top of
the affordability crisis the Trump administration created with reckless
policies.
My family knows what this feels like. My sister, Olivia, was born
with microcephaly, which means her brain was small and the doctors
didn't know why. Even with insurance provided by my dad's civilian job
at the Department of Defense, Olivia wouldn't have gotten the care that
she needed to live for 19 years as healthy as possible if it weren't
for the Washington State Legislature expanding Medicaid the year she
was born.
My family would have faced dire choices about which bills not to pay
in order to meet Olivia's needs if it weren't for Medicaid access.
Would we give up heating, groceries, school lunches?
Neighbors of mine in Washington's Sixth District are already sick to
their stomachs, looking at their monthly costs. For example, a couple
in Clallam County, ages 60 and 55, with a household income of $85,000,
for them the least expensive plan available would jump from $127 per
month to $1,485 per month. That is a 1,062 percent increase.
That same couple in Kitsap County, where I grew up, would go from
paying $56 to almost $1,500 a month under the least expensive plan.
That is an annual insurance bill of $24,000 without even having to go
to the doctor for a medical emergency or routine healthcare.
I recently heard from a neighbor in Port Townsend who said: ``My
husband is retiring in a few weeks.'' She retired years ago. ``So
although we currently have a good benefits package through his work, we
will be on our own for coverage soon. Only yesterday we learned of the
substantial increase through Healthplanfinder. We have now determined
that the best way to cover our upcoming healthcare costs will be for me
to take my Social Security early.''
She says: ``It is upsetting to me that my Social Security will not be
used for other living expenses or be as much per month as it would have
if I could hold off taking it a few more years.''
She is worried in her last line about not being able to use her
Social Security for other living expenses because she is going to have
to use all of it for healthcare coverage.
Under this administration, costs are up across the board. Groceries
are more expensive. Housing is more expensive. Childcare is more
expensive. Gas prices are soaring. Today, the average price for a
gallon of gas in Washington State is over $4, one of the highest in the
Nation.
Healthcare costs are only one aspect of why millions of Americans are
needlessly suffering under this administration. We don't have to keep
living like this. It is time for my colleagues to get serious about
solving the ACA tax credits, as serious as they were about extending
tax breaks for billionaires in July, and get back to delivering on
their promise to lower costs for Americans, which Trump promised to do
on day one of his administration.
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