[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7089]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     SO-CALLED AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, Americans want and need 
greater access to health care, and they deserve reforms that will lower 
costs and expand access, but without undermining quality and 
innovation.
  These were the promises of the President's health care reform law. 
They were worthy goals. Unfortunately, they are not reality.
  To the contrary, over the past 3 years, families and businesses have 
seen a 400 percent premium increase for health care. Patients are being 
denied coverage that physicians will not accept. Employers have slowed 
hiring under new costs and the fear of what is ahead.
  This Congress has rescinded funding for or completely repealed eight 
separate provisions of ObamaCare. Key provisions of the act are 
beginning to collapse under the weight of their own irreparable flaws. 
And even my Democratic colleagues have warned of the law's looming 
``train wreck.''
  Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve better. Full repeal of this 
flawed policy is the first step to enacting commonsense reforms to 
actually lower costs and expand access. Only then can we enact a law 
that can be truly called the ``Affordable Care Act.''

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