[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14593-14596]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               OBAMACARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Gohmert) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I heard our President in a speech that I 
heard this morning say that in essence people who watch Fox News think 
ObamaCare is terrible, there are all kinds of problems. I sure hope 
that our President will start watching something besides CNN or MSNBC 
so he can find out that everything he's done is not made of gold, that 
people are hurting across America.
  They heard him when the President promised that if you like your 
insurance, you'll get to keep it. He said it over and over and over and 
over: if you like your insurance, you can keep it. He made that speech 
across the Nation over and over and over.
  He said that if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. It 
turns out that wasn't true. If you like your insurance, you're probably 
going to lose it or it's going to cost a whole lot more. That's what 
people are finding across the country.
  So I appreciate my colleagues talking about and actually saying some 
of the same things about ObamaCare that they said 3\1/2\ years ago. The 
trouble is now that ObamaCare is upon us and people are being hurt. 
They've lost their insurance, and they've lost their doctor. They can't 
afford the extra thousands of dollars it is costing. I think it was 
PolitiFact that took a shot at me for accurately saying it would cost 
people thousands of dollars if they were at 133 percent of the poverty 
level, that they'd have to buy the insurance or pay the extra income 
tax.
  When you get down to it, even their article that criticized me 
pointed out at the end that still, with all of the government 
subsidies, it was still going to cost a few thousand dollars. That was 
the estimate. It's costing people money they don't have. They're 
getting less care, not more. And I don't have to just give opinion on 
that. We've got case after case, email after email from real Americans 
that have seen the harm it's done.
  A young friend that I have tremendous respect for across the aisle 
pointed out, from his limited experience, that Congress has worked in a 
very partisan way the last few years. What he doesn't realize is that 
in the 4 years the Democrats controlled the House, they presided over 
the Congress that had more closed bills--that meant they didn't allow a 
single amendment. They ostracized nearly half of the country from being 
represented because they did not allow a single amendment to more bills 
than any other Congress in the history of our country. It was the most 
ruthless, partisan, overreaching Congress in the history of the 
country. It was unbelievable.
  So it gets a little difficult to hear leaders who were in charge 
during the four most oppressive partisan years when it comes to having 
input from the other side tell us about responsibility and 
bipartisanship when they showed what they think when they were in 
charge. It was really quite mean.
  We were told by our colleague earlier that Republicans gave us 
sequester. I encourage my friends across the aisle to go back and look 
at accurate history. It was the President who proposed sequester. I 
didn't think it was a good idea at all. That's no way to really 
legislate. We should have made the difficult choices and made the cuts. 
Then to hear comments that the Democrats believe freedom has made us 
great, I absolutely do, too. But freedom has a price. Freedom requires 
responsibility from Americans. It requires that everybody be involved, 
that everybody pay attention to what the government is doing.
  So for those who have said for so long, I don't care what the 
government does as long as they stay out of my business, if that's your 
approach, the government does not and will not stay out of your 
business. It gets to where we are right now with ObamaCare. Every 
American's most private secrets about their own personal and private 
health will be kept by the Federal bureaucracy headquartered in 
Washington. The records may be kept elsewhere. I think the 
administration made a deal with GE. So GE and the Federal Government 
will have everyone's most personal secrets. It's a good thing they can 
keep a secret in the Federal Government so that nobody's personal 
records will be leaked out once they get into the possession of GE or 
the Federal Government.

[[Page 14594]]

  But for my friends across the aisle to talk about hostage politics, 
all I know is that people that I talk to across my district--I think 
the lowest denominator probably ended up at 500 to four that gave 
examples or talked about how bad ObamaCare was. You'd have a few people 
that said, Well, actually, we got our 26-year-old on our health 
insurance, so it's not so bad. Gee, the Republicans were ready to agree 
to that. We were ready to do bipartisan bills, but the most closed-
minded and closed Congress in our history would not allow input. They 
didn't want our input. They were going to do it all themselves. As a 
result of that kind of mean-spiritedness, Americans are suffering 
today.
  I have my friend from Texas, also a former State district judge. As I 
understand, he has heard from his constituents, as well. I yield to my 
friend from Texas.
  Mr. POE of Texas. I appreciate the gentleman yielding some time.
  Earlier this morning, I was reading some emails and Facebook posts on 
my Facebook from people with the question that I asked: How does 
ObamaCare affect you? We ran out of time earlier this morning. Unlike 
the Senate, we can't talk until we're through talking, as you know.
  I'm going to read a few more of those in the next few minutes from 
some of these folks that I received comments from in my district and 
people on Facebook this morning.
  Tonya told me:

       My family's insurance premiums have tripled since ObamaCare 
     was signed into law. I'm not sure how much longer I will be 
     able to keep it.

  Pam says:

       The huge chemical plant my husband works for has made 
     changes to his benefits package, which include higher 
     deductibles, co-pays, and loss of some prescription drug 
     benefits--all done in the anticipation and implementation of 
     the health care act. He works hard, I am a public school 
     teacher, and we want to send our daughter to her dream school 
     upon graduation this year: the University of Texas.

  Mr. Gohmert and I may have a disagreement on that. Anyway, they want 
to send their daughter to the University of Texas, and she continues:

       More coming out of our pockets for health insurance means 
     less available for college. Please help.

  Shannon says that because of ObamaCare:

       Premium doubled, all co-pays went up. So I had to change 
     employers because of the law.

  Brandy:

       I am the finance manager for a non-profit company with 16 
     employees. We may not be able to offer health insurance next 
     year.

  Linda, who I went to high school with said:

       I'm feeling the pain of ObamaCare today. My doctor's office 
     told me this morning that my insurance company will no 
     longer, they have in the past, cover a procedure for my knee. 
     I will now have to pay $1,080 out of pocket.

  Asked if this was a result of ObamaCare, she replied in the positive.

       Also, TRICARE won't cover it and my doctor dropped Medicare 
     coverage. Expensive.

  Matthew says, I'm an outlaw now. I'm a subcontractor, and I just 
can't afford ObamaCare.
  Kristin:

       If I could afford insurance, I would already have it. This 
     forces me to buy something I can't afford.

  Jenn says this:

       Deductible went up, co-pay went up, I have thyroid problems 
     and have to have it tested one to two times a year. Insurance 
     always covered the test. No longer covers it. I'm still 
     trying to figure out the ``affordable'' part of the health 
     care when my costs keep getting higher.

  Here's what Kristy says about her family business:

       Family business has had a 47 percent increase in cost to 
     company since ObamaCare was passed. Will have to cut 
     somewhere.

  David:

       I am a U.S./Texas citizen living in Bahrain/residence in 
     Bahrain. My employer provides my insurance in Bahrain. I am 
     told I have to buy a U.S. policy or pay a penalty.

  And Teddy, the last one, presents a rough situation for people he 
cares about:

       My fiance went from 40-plus hours a week to 27 hours 
     because her employer said they had to in order to avoid 
     penalties from ObamaCare. My sister has been told that her 
     test and some of the medicines for her MS will not be covered 
     because ObamaCare mandates say she is no longer going to be a 
     ``viable'' person at the age of 50.

  These are real people who have contacted me today about the effects 
of ObamaCare. Contrary to what the folks on the other side have said 
for the last hour, it's not all great for a lot of Americans. It's a 
tough piece of legislation. It affects people's health. It affects them 
financially. This law turns over America's health to the Federal 
Government. There's got to be a better way.
  I appreciate the gentleman from Tyler yielding me some time.

                              {time}  1330

  Mr. GOHMERT. Reclaiming my time, real people being hurt in real ways 
is what ObamaCare is doing. And for those who think it is a good thing, 
those were people that would have been helped by either side of the 
aisle.
  But it should be noted that insurance companies, under ObamaCare, are 
paying an additional tax to the Federal Government. Everybody is having 
to pay more for everything, and yet they're getting less health care.
  I get questions: Why, under ObamaCare, are we now going to see 
everything--we've already gotten notice, it's so much more expensive, 
and yet we're getting less coverage, less health care, higher 
deductibles, those kinds of things.
  Part of that answer is, well, we've got to pay for the 18,000 or so 
IRS agents who are going to be hired to help you with your health 
insurance so they can monitor more closely what you make and what you 
spend it on and whether you are spending enough on health care and how 
you are spending it. But we've got to pay for all the IRS agents. Now, 
that's not going to help anybody's health.
  But then you also look at all the navigators that are being hired, 
and that's a problem. I saw over $1 billion was about to be spent on 
advertising to tell Americans how good they were going to feel under 
ObamaCare. All of those things end up coming out of the coverage and 
the health care that people would otherwise get.
  I see my friend from Pennsylvania has arrived, and I yield to him at 
this time.
  Mr. PERRY. I would like to thank the gentleman from Tyler, Texas, for 
yielding to me.
  I would just like to talk about what many Americans hear talked about 
in Congress but maybe can't put a face or a name to, and that is access 
to care. What does that mean, ``access to care''? And our claim is that 
ObamaCare reduces access to care. ``Access to care'' is your ability to 
have a doctor take care of you or some kind of practitioner take care 
of whatever your health care need is. I think it's important that we 
show examples of that.
  So, as of right now, on January 1, thousands of Americans are at risk 
of losing their lifesaving dialysis treatments which they need to 
survive. We're not talking about, I need to have my bunions 
reconfigured. We're not talking about, I've got a skin tag or I have an 
upset stomach. We're talking about dialysis. People who are on dialysis 
must have it on a regular basis to live.
  I visited a dialysis clinic with 25 machines that operate 6 days a 
week in the Fourth Congressional District. Mr. Speaker, 6 days a week, 
25 machines, all day long people come in, and it serves primarily the 
underprivileged population of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which is the 
capital. That's its primary clientele. And the gal there that was 
running the place told me that on January 1, if ObamaCare continues to 
go through, they will cut their operating hours from 6 days to 3, 3 
days a week from 6. So those 25 machines will be idle half the time 
that they're currently being used. That's 50 percent.
  Now, Medicare payments already fall very short of covering the entire 
cost of this, but this clinic makes up the difference by the other 
paying customers. And I would ask the folks that support ObamaCare, do 
they really

[[Page 14595]]

think that the rich in this Nation are going to go without access to 
care? We've heard about concierge medicine. The rich are going to 
continue to receive care one way or another. But it's the poor, it's 
really the abject poor that are going to suffer under this.
  I just want to put some names to this. I met a Vietnam veteran named 
Johnny. You know, people think, Oh, if you have dialysis, you've got 
diabetes. You didn't take care of yourself. This man is fit, doesn't 
smoke, and does take care of himself, but he just happens to have 
diabetes. And he comes into this clinic, and he needs to come in more 
than once a week. So when you go from 6 days to 3 days, Johnny is going 
to have to look for some other way to get his dialysis.
  And then there's Amy. Amy comes in a couple times a week and hooks 
herself up. She comes and knows it so well that the people there that 
are actually administering the service and the care don't have to do 
that work for her. She comes in and takes care of that herself so she 
can literally stay alive.
  And then there's Chris, 34. People think, Oh, if you need dialysis, 
you didn't take care of yourself. You are an old person who didn't take 
care of yourself. Chris is 34 years old. When you go to dialysis, it's 
4, 5 hours, sometimes, and more in the chair. That's a day away from 
work, away from family. And it's hard to sustain employment when you 
are gone 4 or 5 hours a day, two or three times a week to stay alive. 
But that's what these people must do. Chris supports himself. He is a 
chef in a local restaurant. He has got type 1. He's had kidney failure. 
So he's going to have to find another place to get his dialysis, 
because this place will no longer be there.
  So that's what ``access to care'' means, and that's putting a face 
and a name to it; and that's what ObamaCare is going to do in the 
community that I represent, literally taking this lifesaving care away 
from people.
  I would urge my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, to really take a look at the 
upcoming votes both in the Senate and in the House regarding this bill, 
regarding this law. It is not ready to roll out. There are significant 
failures of it and shortcomings. We understand it was laudable trying 
to find a way for every American to receive care. That is a laudable 
goal, and we support that.
  We have a plan here in the House of Representatives. We would like 
the plan to be aired, but none of that is going to happen. None of that 
is going to happen if ObamaCare is fully implemented as is planned for 
in the upcoming days. None of that is going to happen. And these people 
that are receiving their dialysis on the west shore in the Fourth 
District of Pennsylvania are going to have to find some other way, 
literally day by day, to stay alive thanks to ObamaCare.
  Mr. GOHMERT. I thank the gentleman.
  The gentleman is absolutely correct. But it's not just Pennsylvania, 
and it's not just Texas. It's everywhere. People are hurting.
  My friends across the aisle in the last hour had commented about 
Republicans wanting a shutdown. We don't want a shutdown. We don't. Ted 
Cruz does not want a shutdown. I visited with him quite a bit 
yesterday. He doesn't want a shutdown. But we know the damage ObamaCare 
is doing not just to the economy--that's bad enough--but to people's 
health.
  Here is an email. We've gotten so many of them. Just in the short 
time I have, I'm trying to decide which ones to present. This one from 
Kaytee says:

       Just got notice my health care coverage options and costs 
     will be changed. They will send out the info next month. I am 
     one of the 26,000 part-time Home Depot employees whose hours 
     were cut back to never exceed 29 per week. We used to do the 
     6-week thing. They would schedule us for 35 to 39 hours per 
     week for 5 weeks, then cut us back in the 6th week to 25 or 
     so and then back up again. Now it's always going to be less 
     than 29 hours per week. I'm scared to death to see what the 
     rate changes will be. Probably way more than I make.
       My doctor of 9 years is retiring this month. She is only 46 
     and an amazingly exceptional family medicine practitioner. 
     Says she'll grow a garden and herd goats, but she won't be a 
     contributing member of the insanity. She is an Indian Hindu 
     born and raised in Canada. She came to Texas because of the 
     messed up state-run medical care in Canada.

  Insurance not the same, losing the doctor.
  Here is one from Sandric:

       My wife has a bone disease and is always in severe pain. We 
     see a specialist in Longview, Texas. This specialist travels 
     from Dallas, 110 miles away, and practices here a couple of 
     days a week. But since ObamaCare, he has said that he can no 
     longer afford to have two practices so far apart and will 
     have to close his Longview practice and that he may just 
     retire early. Now there will soon be no doctor in this area 
     for my wife to see, and she is too debilitated to make the 
     drive to Dallas every month. We are not sure what to do now.

  These are real Americans agonizing over the damage that ObamaCare is 
doing. And I can't bring myself to call it the Affordable Care Act, 
because it isn't.
  Here is one from a widow that lives in east Texas, Joy. She says:

       I am losing my insurance, which I have had for over 30 
     years.

  So much for, ``If you like your insurance, you can keep it.'' There's 
no telling how many millions of times that promise will be broken in 
the subsequent months if we can't put off the damage ObamaCare is 
doing.
  Back to her letter. Talking about the insurance, it says:

       It was in my husband's name, and he has recently died. So 
     here I am, a widow and losing my insurance. I am frustrated 
     and a little scared. I've never had to do anything like 
     research for insurance and don't even know where to begin. I 
     am from Tyler, Texas, and saw your post on Facebook. Enclosed 
     is the letter my insurance company sent me. They do not 
     directly say it is due to ObamaCare, but it's pretty easy to 
     read between the lines.

  And actually, you don't even have to do much reading between the 
lines. She enclosed a copy of the letter from New York Life Insurance. 
At the end of the first paragraph, it says that their insurance, their 
Group Health and Life Insurance Trust will terminate at midnight on 
December 31, 2013.

       The decision to exit this market was not an easy one. The 
     determination was made based on the evolving market 
     conditions and regulatory requirements stemming from the 
     Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

  I think that's pretty clear. She lost her insurance because of 
ObamaCare.
  I know that there's nobody on the Democratic side that really wants 
to do this, put this kind of fear and suffering into a dear widow, but 
it's being done. I know that nobody voted on this side of the aisle for 
ObamaCare intending to hurt widows and children like is happening, but 
it's happening. And now that it's happening, it is absolutely 
incorrigible if my friends do not help us help those that are being 
hurt by at least postponing this disastrous, hurtful ObamaCare.
  Here's another from Jay:

       On Tuesday of last week, my 89-year-old mother-in-law fell 
     and broke her hip. Her doctor gave her only a 50 percent 
     chance of survival, but survive she did. He stated after the 
     operation that she was lucky that it happened this week. He 
     said, ``In 2 weeks, I could not have performed the same 
     procedure because it is not an approved procedure under the 
     new rules. It's too expensive.'' We all wondered what her 
     chances of survival would have been under Dr. Obama.

  She will have insurance, but we're already hearing from people that 
they've been told they'd better get the procedure now because, if they 
wait, it's not going to be covered because the ObamaCare board 
apparently thinks if you are of a certain age then maybe you don't need 
or deserve a pacemaker or back surgery.
  Here's another:

       I work for a commercial electrical contractor who has been 
     in business in east Texas for over 30 years. At the beginning 
     of this year, we employed over 100 workers. The company 
     provides group health insurance and pays 75 percent of the 
     cost for the employees. At this time, we have 66 employees. 
     We will intentionally have less than 50 employees by the end 
     of the year, and the owner is planning to drop the health 
     plan at the first of the coming year.

  So much for, ``If you like your insurance, you can keep it.'' Not 
only are you not going to keep your insurance, you are not keeping your 
employment.
  Here is another from Bobbye: With the health mandate looming, the 
college where he teaches ``determined that adjunct professors could no 
longer teach four classes per semester because

[[Page 14596]]

the time for prep/teaching would require they provide me health 
insurance.'' So he has been dropped from the class maximum to three. He 
said: I didn't expect health insurance from the college, but the 
mandate has now dictated my workload.
  It dictated less work. So how does he make it?
  Here's one:

       I am a 56-year-old single woman with no children, and I 
     have been stuck as part-time toll collector for Harris 
     County, Texas, since the passage of ObamaCare. For 4 years, I 
     only work 72 hours every 2 weeks, with no benefits 
     whatsoever. Last year, the County Commissioner stated they 
     will no longer hire full-time employees. I have $39 left for 
     groceries once mortgage payment and bills are paid. ObamaCare 
     will destroy me.

                              {time}  1345

  Here's another, from Charles:

       I recently applied for a job in Tyler at a new restaurant. 
     At my interview, I asked how many hours I could expect. The 
     owner said, verbatim: I'm sorry but because of ObamaCare I 
     cannot afford to hire anyone for more than 30 hours per week.

  Here's another, from Timothy:

       I am the only one that works in my house. I support a 
     family of five and would be considered lower middle class. I 
     just received notice from my employer that I now have to pay 
     an additional $6 per person per month as a surcharge on the 
     new health care law. Also, my premium is going up $60 per 
     month. It's a total of $100 per month, or increase of about 
     $1,200 per year. I am basically looking at a 34 percent 
     increase for nothing. I don't know how I'm going to be able 
     to afford this as my budget is pretty tight already. Repeal 
     the Affordable Health Care Act, please, because for me, it's 
     anything but affordable.

  Here's another, from Rose:

       I'm 54 years old and have always had health insurance, 
     which I pay for myself. I too received a letter telling me 
     that, due to this so-called affordable health care, they will 
     not be providing me with continued insurance. I will need to 
     make decisions about what insurance I want, but they have no 
     idea what choices I will have and of course, no idea what I 
     will be charged, but were quick to say it will likely be more 
     than I pay now. Thanks a lot, ObamaCare.
       We have no extra income to pay for this. Please stop this 
     from happening to our family and families throughout our 
     country who are having their rights taken away from us.

  Here's one from Andrea. She sells insurance for State Farm. They 
partner with Assurant Health for our individual medical plans:

       Ever since we were forced this monstrosity in the most 
     partisan vote ever, we have seen major changes come from the 
     health insurance policies we were able to offer. Not only is 
     there a noticeable increase in the price, we no longer offer 
     maternity coverage, we no longer offer prescription copay, we 
     no longer offer an office copay, we no longer offer the low 
     deductibles we once did.
       We have lost many of the networks that allowed people in 
     our area the best choice as their doctor being in network. 
     Now, the premium increases at the renewal are much higher 
     than pre-reforms.

  Here's another, from Melissa:

       I am self-employed, and I'm already paying for my own 
     health insurance. I received a letter from my insurance 
     provider 3 weeks ago that stated there would be changes in my 
     policy and they would be sending me additional information in 
     the coming months. Based on the estimates I've seen, my 
     monthly insurance costs will go up roughly 136 percent.

  ObamaCare is damaging real Americans. We owe it to them to do 
everything we can to stop it, and stop the waivers and exemptions.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________