[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11046]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                        THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, roughly 
17 million American children with preexisting medical conditions can no 
longer be discriminated against and be denied health insurance by 
insurance companies. And yet, rather than focus on the key tasks of 
creating jobs and strengthening the middle class in America, my 
Republican colleagues want to tear up the health care law. They want to 
rip up the independent decision by our Supreme Court, by Justices 
appointed by Presidents of both parties, finding the Affordable Care 
Act is on firm constitutional footing, and they want to start all over 
again, putting the coverage of those millions of children I just spoke 
about at risk.
  This vote is personal. Health care is personal. When I was 9, I had a 
serious childhood illness. I spent 3 months in the hospital. My 
grandparents, who were raising me, found out that their family 
insurance didn't cover me. They made great sacrifices to help pay for 
my care. But if that weren't enough, when my grandparents then looked 
for insurance that would cover me, they couldn't find coverage at any 
price. I was considered one of those kids with a preexisting medical 
condition, never mind that I had fully recovered from my illness. No 
child should ever be denied coverage for that reason.
  I grew up believing that no family should have to go through what 
ours did. Parents or grandparents shouldn't have to worry, shouldn't 
have to lay awake at night worrying about whether they can provide for 
a sick child or whether an illness might bankrupt their family.
  Families now know that insurance companies can't discriminate against 
their children based on a preexisting condition. Turning back the clock 
so insurance companies can, once again, deny children access to care is 
simply wrong.
  It is time that we all move forward. It is time that we work 
together. It is time to make this Affordable Care Act work for the 
American people.

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