[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10950-10951]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1120
                         YOU CAN STOP WORRYING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I am well aware of the fact that there are many 
Americans who think when they hear the word ``ObamaCare,'' that somehow 
it is a takeover by the government of our freedom and of our health 
care. I'm hoping that people will take another look now that the 
Supreme Court has declared this to be the law of the land and see what 
the advantages are for you, for individuals, what does it really mean.
  For example, if you're a woman, did you know that being a woman is 
like being a preexisting condition? Over a lifetime, women pay about 48 
percent more for their health insurance than men do. That is ended 
right now because of ObamaCare. Did you know that if you're a woman, 
you're now able to get lifesaving preventive services like a mammogram? 
You can go in now and get a mammogram at no cost because it's a 
preventive service under ObamaCare.
  If you're a parent and you have a child with a disability, right now 
you are able to have that child insured. They cannot be excluded 
because they have a preexisting condition. Of course, that meant so 
much to the mother of Olivia. Let me just read the story of the mother 
of Olivia. Olivia suffered a stroke at birth, and now she's 11 years 
old. She has multiple health issues, including epilepsy and cognitive 
delays and cerebral palsy. ObamaCare means that Olivia can't be denied 
coverage based on her preexisting condition, and there is no lifetime 
limit. That's true of everyone now in America. There is no lifetime 
limit on her insurance coverage.
  Both of Olivia's parents have switched jobs since having Olivia; and 
each time they switched, they had to fight to get the needed coverage 
for their daughter due to her preexisting condition. Imagine the relief 
that they don't have to do that, and no one with a child with a 
disability has to do that anymore.

[[Page 10951]]

  This idea of government takeover is just not true. You will still be 
able to choose your providers. All the decisions you really want to 
make are not going to be taken away. You will even be able to choose 
your insurance company. If you can't afford it, you will be put into an 
exchange where you still get to choose a variety of insurance 
companies. If you can't afford the premiums, the government will help 
you do that.
  By the way, all Members of Congress will be required to be in those 
health exchanges. You won't be able to say that the Members of Congress 
are taking care of themselves with their great health benefits. By the 
way, they are the same as all Federal workers. We pay our premiums, and 
we pay our copays. We're the only Americans that are going to be 
required to be in those health exchanges. So you can be assured that 
we're going to be making sure that we're taking care of ourselves, as 
well as all other Americans.
  Because of ObamaCare, my adult son the other day on his birthday 
said, Thank you, Mom. He is a small business owner. He owns a tropical 
fish store in Chicago. He said, I just found out from my accountant 
that I received a pretty hefty tax credit, because that's what's given 
now to small businesses under ObamaCare. So the idea that somehow small 
businesses are going to be hurt because of ObamaCare, the opposite is 
true. Right now this is helping small businesses with a tax cut.
  Here are a couple of more examples. Jerry M., a constituent, said:

       My 24-year-old daughter does not make enough money to pay 
     for individual health care. She became very ill with a throat 
     abscess and almost died. If it weren't for ObamaCare, she 
     would not be covered under my husband's insurance plan then. 
     If we had not been able to get her into an excellent hospital 
     that saved her, she might have died.

  That's no longer true. You don't have to worry about that. You can 
stop worrying about going bankrupt over health care costs.
  Here's from a senior:

       My drugs are over $4,000 a year or more, and I hit the 
     doughnut hole--meaning a gap in coverage and the senior has 
     to pay on her own--by July or August. But because of 
     ObamaCare paying 50 percent, it's very helpful to me. It 
     probably saves me $1,200 or more a year.

  She's an example of someone who is saving money right now because of 
ObamaCare. Take another look. I think it's really going to alleviate 
your worry about health care costs for your family.

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