[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 18111]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, today, the President put forth some 
conversation about the Affordable Care Act that focuses especially on 
women's health. I am absolutely delighted to come to the floor to 
address that issue in that--and I hope every woman in America 
understands this--because of the Affordable Care Act, being a woman is 
no longer a preexisting medical condition. As the mother of five 
children--four daughters and one son--I am very excited about this.
  Over the break, I had the privilege of being at a meeting with some 
researchers on the subject of breast cancer in particular, and they 
spent a good deal of the time telling us what the possibilities were 
with research that should be funded--that is a budget issue, another 
subject, but one that is related here--and that we could remove this 
threat to women's health with proper research.
  They took time to say that one thing that was helping women with 
breast cancer more than anything was the Affordable Care Act--that they 
would have access to care without being discriminated against because 
of a preexisting medical condition, that no longer would they have 
annual or lifetime limits on the health insurance that they would 
receive. The relief of the stress from all of that is a very healthy 
thing for people who have a diagnosis.
  So whatever it is--whether it is mammograms as my colleague 
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz so generously shared her story 
with us about her experience or, earlier, as Congresswoman DeLauro 
shared hers and as other Members shared the stories of their 
constituents--this is really very important. Moms are the hubs of 
families. Many of them fear this diagnosis. Many families in America 
have been affected by it.
  With our investments in research and with the Affordable Care Act, 
women have reason to be very, very hopeful that this can be prevented 
with early detection--and not only with early detection but with 
regular detection. Then, on top of that, if they have that feared 
diagnosis, they will receive the care that they deserve.
  There is one other point I want to make about it because we all 
worship at the altar of biomedical research and what it means for our 
country and the thought that we could be rid of breast cancer in a 
handful of years: we want to make sure every woman in America and every 
person in America benefits from that research. The vehicle for that is 
the Affordable Care Act. It stands right there with Social Security, 
with Medicare, with affordable--and that is the word, ``affordable''--
health care for all Americans as a pillar of health and economic 
security for the American people.
  Today, we focus on moms--we focus on women--and we say, Thank God. No 
longer will being a woman be a preexisting medical condition.

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