[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 211 (Monday, December 15, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H5891-H5893]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HEALTHCARE AFFORDABILITY CRISIS
(Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms.
McClellan of Virginia was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of
the minority leader.)
General Leave
Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
any extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, we have 4 legislative days left in 2025,
17 days total.
This is our last chance to prevent 22 million people from seeing
their insurance premiums double or even triple and for some to see
their health insurance premium spike beyond their ability to pay when
the enhanced premium tax credits expire on December 31.
An estimated 5 million people will find that they can no longer
afford those premiums and will lose their coverage altogether.
For the past month, the Congressional Black Caucus has told stories
on this floor of our constituents who will be impacted by this body's
failure to act. These include restaurant owners, beauticians, barbers,
landscapers, florists, mediators, chiropractors, funeral directors,
farmers, small business owners and their employees, gig workers, the
self-employed, and more.
We have told stories of people worried about how they are going to
pay that unexpected bill if they get sick or injured or if they lose
their health insurance. We have 4 days to prevent that from happening.
Last week the Senate failed to act. The administration doesn't even
seem to have a concept of a plan, so it is up to the House. Leader
Jeffries has the discharge petition open right now to extend the
credits, and we need just four Republicans to sign on.
Last week Punchbowl News reported that Speaker Johnson is planning a
long process to fix healthcare, saying he anticipates working on
healthcare through the second quarter of next year. However, open
enrollment ends on January 15, 1 month from today, and those new
premiums will take effect on January 1, in 17 days.
Mr. Speaker, do you know who can't wait for the Speaker's process?
It is my constituent Lester Johnson, co-owner, with his wife, of Mama
J's Restaurant. They and their daughter rely on the Affordable Care Act
paying about $700 a month for their premiums in 2025. However, without
the enhanced premium tax credits, their bill is going to go up to more
than $1,400 a month, and many of his roughly 40 employees are going to
see their premiums spike, as well.
It is a lot of money for people, Lester said, and not knowing what
the price is going to be because of a stalemate in Congress adds
uncertainty. Everybody is feeling the anxiety.
Lester is not sure what he is going to do. I have told stories of
constituents in Virginia who found a plan they could afford but with
higher deductibles. They are worried. They say they are just going to
wrap themselves in bubble wrap and hold their breath.
Bubble wrap doesn't help you, Mr. Speaker, if you are in a car
accident. Bubble wrap doesn't help you, Mr. Speaker, when you get sick.
Bubble wrap doesn't help you, Mr. Speaker, if
[[Page H5892]]
you end up going into premature labor and have to pay an average of
$70,000 a day for a NICU stay.
Rather than addressing this premium cliff, House Republicans have put
forth a reckless plan that will put millions more Americans' healthcare
coverage at risk. This new bill does nothing to lower costs for
millions of Americans who are now facing skyrocketing healthcare
premiums.
The bill is full of recycled failed ideas from previous efforts to
repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. It fails to extend vital
enhanced premium tax credits, forcing more than 22 million Americans to
pay, on average, twice as much to buy the same health coverage they
have today.
As I said, an estimated 4 to 5 million could become entirely
uninsured, and everybody else will pay higher healthcare costs.
This proposal increases premiums for millions of Americans by funding
cost-sharing reductions, causing hundreds of thousands of people to
become uninsured. It expands so-called association health plans that
put comprehensive and affordable care for small businesses and workers
at risk. This has been the centerpiece of Republican attempts to repeal
the Affordable Care Act for decades.
It doesn't work.
The plan also creates a backdoor ban on abortion and reproductive
healthcare.
Republicans have shown they have no agenda to address healthcare
affordability and access. As Americans stare down notices that their
healthcare costs will increase by tens of thousands of dollars in just
2 weeks, Republicans are cramming through legislation that kicks them
while they are down.
Americans will suffer without the Affordable Care Act enhanced
premium tax credits, and yet Republicans still haven't put forward a
clean plan that will provide relief. Instead, they are putting on
political theater with an unserious vote on an amendment that will
undermine the ACA that their leadership intends to see fail.
This eleventh hour, half-baked plan isn't even feasible to implement.
Earlier this year, Democrats urged Republicans to extend the tax
credits fearing for those Americans whose costs were about to
skyrocket. Instead, Republicans spent their time cutting $1 trillion
from the healthcare system while Americans began receiving their
notices that their healthcare premiums would skyrocket and Republicans
stood idly by.
Now we are just 2 weeks away from the expiration of these tax
credits, and this half-baked plan isn't going to cut it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Carter).
Mr. CARTER of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her
leadership in these Special Order hours.
Mr. Speaker, as we talk about the human costs of expiring healthcare
tax credits, these human costs are not just on Democrats. These human
costs are on Americans across the board, Republicans and Democrats
alike. They are the small business owners who are the backbone, as we
often say, of our economy. Yet when given an opportunity to demonstrate
to our small business owners that they really matter and that their
employees really matter, we play politics.
Today, I want to share the story of Mike Friedman. I met Mike in
October, about 1 week before open enrollment began. He was working on a
Federal contract at the USDA National Finance Center in New Orleans but
lost his job in April because of Federal workforce cuts enacted by
Trump, Musk, and DOGE.
His family signed up for insurance through the Affordable Care Act
because his husband was also laid off in the spring. Mike had cancer 5
years ago and continues to have outstanding health concerns.
{time} 1930
If MAGA Republicans don't join Democrats in extending the ACA tax
credit, Mike doesn't know how he or his family will afford healthcare.
He told me: I am not unusual in this case. So many others are in the
exact same position. He said: I am in the cusp between being retired
and not being eligible for Medicare yet. He just turned 61, and the ACA
is the only option for his family.
The cost of healthcare is out of control. Republicans have turned the
situation into a crisis with the largest Medicaid cut in the history,
outrageous threats to Medicare, and relentless targeting of the
Affordable Care Act.
This big, pretty some may say, most would say ugly law will hurt
Americans of every party, of every background, of every ZIP Code. For
43 days, the Congressional Black Caucus stood firm to protect America's
healthcare and lower healthcare costs for people like Mike and so many
others that will remain nameless and faceless because they don't always
have a voice or a platform from which to plead their case. That is why
we are here, for those who may not have a voice, may not have a
platform, may not have a lobby, may not have a group to fight for them.
We are fighting for them every single day regardless of their name,
background, even party because when we are elected to Congress, we are
not elected to only represent those who are in our party, but to
represent the American people.
This healthcare crisis is an affront to the American people, and I
implore my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to do the right
thing. Do the right thing. Step up, stand out, fight against injustice
and inequality wherever you find it. Demonstrate that to our small
business people, our people living with disabilities, our veterans, our
working people who go to work every single day who make just a little
bit too much money to access Medicaid, but not enough money to pay for
their healthcare.
Republicans' failure to extend the ACA tax credits will hurt
Louisianians and Americans across this country. It allows premiums to
skyrocket for tens of millions of Americans by an average of 114
percent and takes away coverage from around 4 million people.
That is unacceptable by every front. Any way you slice it, it is
unacceptable. We are the richest country in the world. This Nation has
more than anyone else in the entire world. No one should go to bed
hungry. No one should be without a home. No one should fear being sick
because they can't access healthcare, not in America.
This is not a partisan issue, my friends. There are a lot of things
that we can be partisan about. This isn't one. We only have a few days
left to get this right. Let's not let the American people be the
sacrificial lamb over some undisputed political battle among parties.
Let's not let a person in the White House who seems to care about
everything but the American people dictate or drive our actions. We are
bigger, we are better. I know you personally. Find the courage to do
the right thing. Stand up for the nearly 4 million people who will find
themselves without healthcare.
The Congressional Black Caucus is here, and we are not giving up this
fight. We will not give up the fight to address the healthcare crisis
in our country. We will not give up the fight to fight for those
businesspeople who every day create tax dollars and sales taxes for our
local governments, that hire people from the community, that provide
the resources that keep our economy going. Let's demonstrate to them
that they matter. Let's do the right thing. Let's extend the ACA tax
credits and show America that we can get our business done and that
everything we do is not subject to a red or a blue.
Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Carter for his remarks.
Mr. Speaker, I wasn't here when the Affordable Care Act was passed. I
was in the State legislature in Virginia. It was after I had become a
mother. It was while I was part of the sandwich generation, trying to
raise two children and deal with elderly parents nearing the end of
their lives. It was while I spent a lot of time trying to figure out
how we were going to close the insurance gap so that no one would face
a couple of scenarios that I was lucky enough to have health insurance
to cover, but a lot of people don't.
The first was when my son was almost 3 years old, and in the blink of
an eye he grabbed my curling iron and burned his hand. We were in a
rural community in Virginia whose hospital didn't have a burn unit. It
was very small. They couldn't even figure out what degree the burn was.
This was on a Saturday.
[[Page H5893]]
They said: You can either go home--and on Wednesday there is a burn
clinic where they can look at his hand for free--or we can see if the
VCU Health center can admit him today. I said: Well, he is going to get
admitted today because I knew I had health insurance, and whatever that
bill was going to be, I didn't have to worry about it.
If I didn't have health insurance, I would have been forced to wait
until Wednesday to go to the clinic, and his hand probably would have
been infected.
After a 3-hour ambulance ride, a week in the burn unit, and all the
medication, the bill was $15,000. In the blink of an eye, my son's
injury cost $15,000. However, I was lucky because I had health
insurance, so I only had to pay $1,000. I was lucky I had the ability
to pay that.
At the time, we were trying to figure out should Virginia expand
Medicaid to help people who can't afford health insurance get it. We
were able to expand it on a bipartisan basis because in our rural
areas, they understood Medicaid expansion was critical to keeping their
hospitals open. Over 300,000 Virginians got health insurance because of
that.
Now, those 300,000 Virginians face the prospect of losing their
health insurance because of actions Congress took in July with the
largest Medicaid cut in American history. In our rural areas, six
hospitals in Virginia are at risk of closing because of those Medicaid
cuts, one in my district that is a healthcare safety net. The closest
hospital if they close is over an hour away.
We also created our own State-based healthcare exchange, and 573,000
Virginians signed up. Many of them now face the prospect they won't be
able to afford their premiums when their tax credits expire in 17 days.
This is all in the context of folks seeing their housing costs
increase, whether it is rent or mortgage, their energy bills increase,
childcare increase. A lot of folks are facing the prospect that they
cannot pay their rent and their health insurance, so they are playing
the lottery, figuratively: The lottery that they won't get sick or the
lottery they won't get injured. When they do, whether they are insured
or not, they are showing up at the hospital, and the rest of us will
pay the cost.
{time} 1940
Mr. Speaker, as we enter the holiday season, as a preacher's kid, I
have been thinking a lot about Matthew 25:31-40, where Jesus said:
``Come, you who are blessed by my Father.'' He said when He enters into
his kingdom, all the nations will come, and He will say: `` `Come, you
who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom
prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and
you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something
to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and
you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and
you came to visit me.'
``Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see you
hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When
did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and
clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
'' When did we do this? And He said: ``Whatever you did for the least
of these, you did for Me.''
Mr. Speaker, I came to Congress looking to do for the least of these
as well as every American, but Congress' priorities this year have not
been that.
Congress bent over backward, congressional Republicans specifically,
bent over backward to provide permanent tax breaks for people who make
over $500,000 a year, but if you make $64,000 a year, or a family of
four that makes $129,000 a year, you are just expected to absorb health
insurance premiums that double or triple.
If you make $21,597 a year, or a family of four who makes $44,000 to
$45,000 a year, you are supposed to absorb your healthcare costs if you
lose access to Medicaid. That is upside down, and what we are saying is
to the least of these, you are on your own. They deserve better.
We have 4 days to try to prevent millions of Americans from losing
access to health insurance. Are we going to do it? Time will tell. I
still have hope, but we will see.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________