[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17067]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               OBAMACARE

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, over the past few months, I have heard 
hundreds of stories from my constituents about the President's health 
care law and the devastating effects it is having on their families and 
small businesses. One issue I want to address today is the serious 
threat ObamaCare is to the rural health care situation in our country.
  For my constituents in northern California, we already face a 
shortage of care and choices. Many families have to turn to bordering 
States to see a doctor or for emergency room visits. Now we know that 
the law is actually creating a much larger challenge for rural 
Americans.
  Today I want to share with you a story from a constituent I met just 
a couple months ago at the Tulelake Fair in Siskiyou County. Patricia 
Plass lives with her husband, a self-employed business owner, in a 
rural border town just inside the California-Oregon State line. Their 
longtime family doctor is in Oregon, as well as the closest hospital. 
These letters I have here also point out that they have had their 
insurance coverage canceled recently, so this notification has thrown 
them into a tizzy because of the law and their plan has been canceled. 
They now have to enroll in a plan that they don't like, that is 
inferior and increasing their costs by hundreds of dollars each month.
  Tricia wrote to me and said:

       I have been told I will not have coverage for our regular 
     doctor in Oregon that our family has been seeing for years 
     and, of course, our closest hospital which is also in Oregon. 
     We are now living with a constant fear that our new policy 
     under ObamaCare will not even provide coverage when we need 
     it.

  Mr. Speaker, this is wrong. Mr. President, it is broken. We need to 
support a new plan.

                          ____________________