[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17031-17032]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         PULSE OF TEXAS: OBCARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the health of the Nation is now in the 
hands of government. Let's see how it is working out for people who 
work for a living. Many Americans are feeling the pain of government 
health care, and here is what some of them have sent me from my 
congressional district in Texas.
  Billie from Spring, Texas, writes:

       I can't afford what ObamaCare will cost. How can they say 
     it is better? My company pays part of my insurance, and the 
     insurance is good. Why do I have to change to something I 
     cannot afford? It doesn't make any sense. My doctor told me a 
     lot of them will retire rather than deal with this horrible 
     health care law. The quality of doctors will diminish. I 
     thought the government was for the people.

  Well, Billie, apparently the government is for the government and not 
for the people.
  James from Humble, Texas, says:

       Please defund ObamaCare. My employer has already informed 
     us our health care will be changing, and this comes at a very 
     bad time for my family. We will be forced into exchanges and 
     employer informs us the company has the right to end 
     subsidized retiree health care in the future. Higher costs, 
     higher deductibles, and total confusion. This will have a 
     negative impact on our economic future as we enter our 
     retirement years.

  Small business owner Terrence Wolfe from Humble says:

       Defund ObamaCare before we collapse our entire economy. We 
     cannot afford it as a Nation, and I cannot afford it as a 
     small business owner. I cover 80 percent of the premium for 
     all 10 of my employees. All of us are bracing for at least a 
     20 percent to 40 percent increase.

  Shannon Rudd from Humble, Texas, says:

       I cannot believe ObamaCare is still a reality. The 
     government has no business managing health care insurance. 
     Furthermore, they have no right to tell Americans if they can 
     or cannot have a procedure performed once the insurance is 
     forced on individuals.

[[Page 17032]]

     Forcing people to pay a fine if they choose not to have 
     health care is asinine and the furthest thing from democracy.

  Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, Shannon is wrong about it being a fine. 
It is not a criminal penalty; it is a tax. If it were a fine, you could 
have due process, you would be presumed innocent, your day in court, 
your jury trial, but under a tax, you have to pay the tax first and 
then fight the IRS to try to get it back. Good luck with that.
  Sharon Coyle from Spring, Texas, says:

       Now what? We may get the delay in ObamaCare mandate after 
     all because of the cluster it has turned out to be, but what 
     about those of us who have insurance through our employers?
       My gold level of my insurance no longer allows me to 
     participate in the flex spending account. I ultimately ended 
     up having to go to a lower plan because it was cost-
     prohibited. My deductible is higher and now my copays are 
     higher.
       I will be paying at least $2,000 to $3,000 more per year on 
     top of the $7,200 I already pay. We were told it is because 
     of ObamaCare.
       This is a big dupe to America. Obama wanted everything to 
     be more fair. Sure, we all have insurance now, but no one can 
     afford to go to the doctor.

  Well said, Sharon.
  Robert Arnold from Humble, Texas, says this:

       It is incomprehensible that we put men on the Moon in 1969, 
     but we can't get into a $400 million Web site to purchase 
     insurance.

  Yes, Mr. Speaker, those glitches seem to be a real problem.
  Kenneth Earl Beeney from Kingwood, Texas, says:

       Now when I look at what is available with OBCare, the plan 
     that is closest to ours is going to cost $745 a month. This 
     is absurd. It does not look like we will be able to keep our 
     current policy, so we are being forced to pay $400 per month 
     for coverage and the deductible will be $12,000.
       I really like my current policy and the premium fits our 
     budget. What can be done?

  Mr. Speaker, this is bad news for the middle class.
  Merin Porter from Houston, Texas, says:

       I am the sole breadwinner for a family of five. I am 
     eligible for affordable insurance through my employer; 
     however, my family coverage is prohibitively expensive--
     $18,000 per year, or more than 30 percent of my take-home 
     pay. As you can imagine, it is only affordable to us if food, 
     shelter, and clothing were a luxury and not a necessity.

  Mr. Speaker, Merin should not have to choose between feeding the 
family and being forced into ObamaCare. Why has the government done 
this to the people? As Billie says and said it best, ``I thought the 
government was for the people.'' Well, apparently not.
  And that's just the way it is.

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