[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2823]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Quigley) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, all things are subject to interpretation, 
but as Nietzsche once said:

       Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is often 
     more a function of power and not truth.

  Last week, the Congressional Budget Office came out with a report 
evaluating the economic impacts of the Affordable Care Act. Since then, 
there are those who have used the power they have to frame a false 
narrative. Rather than talking about what the report actually says, 
they have spent the last week talking about what they would like it to 
say. Their false interpretation of the ObamaCare act is that it will 
cost the American economy 2.5 million jobs; but the truth is that the 
much-misrepresented CBO study didn't say that at all because, as The 
Wall Street Journal accurately reported, reducing the total number of 
hours Americans have to work is very different than eliminating jobs.
  One of the reasons we passed the Affordable Care Act in the first 
place was to fix the pitfalls of this country's employer-based health 
care system. Before the ACA, people with preexisting conditions were 
often forced to stay in their jobs to avoid losing their health care 
coverage. Even if they wanted to leave their jobs to reduce their 
hours, retire early, change careers, or to spend more time with their 
families, they couldn't because doing so would risk their ability to 
provide affordable health insurance for their families.

                              {time}  1015

  What the Affordable Care Act did was right this wrong. By broadening 
access to health insurance, the ACA has increased personal freedom and 
market choice. Now Americans can choose jobs based on what they want to 
be doing instead of staying where they are unhappy just to keep their 
insurance.
  The expansion of Medicaid eligibility and the subsidies available in 
the exchanges will give Americans the flexibility they need to raise 
their families, not encourage workers to seek less employment, which 
was one of the most misleading claims made after the report was 
released.
  The idea that hardworking Americans will modify their employment just 
to be eligible for social safety net programs is both ludicrous and 
offensive. Nobody wants to live in a situation that makes you eligible 
for Medicaid or other social safety net programs, but too many 
hardworking Americans are forced to.
  In Illinois, a family of four must exist on less than $32,500 per 
year to qualify for these programs. In the Chicago area, the cost of 
living is high and families struggle to make ends meet.
  Measures like Medicaid and SNAP are meant to help people lift 
themselves from poverty. Claiming that poor people want to be poor to 
rely more on the government is misguided and just flat out wrong.
  I have said from the beginning that the ACA is far from perfect and 
that we should work together to improve it, but arguing that at-risk 
and low-income Americans will actively choose to work less, reducing 
their own incomes and jeopardizing their family's economic future just 
to ``game the system,'' is not a legitimate issue and speaks volumes 
about the extreme views that are dividing our government and preventing 
real reform from occurring.
  By focusing on false interpretations, we are forgetting the economic 
benefits contained in the law. To quote the CBO report:

       If some people seek to work less, other applicants will be 
     readily available to fill those positions and the overall 
     effect on employment will be muted.

  At a time when long-term employment is at its highest since World War 
II, there are more than enough workers willing and able to take these 
jobs. That is why the director of the CBO recently testified about the 
likelihood of the ACA creating jobs, not eliminating them.
  The report also acknowledged that insurance premiums under the law 
are 15 percent lower than originally forecast, that ``the slowdown in 
Medicare cost growth'' is ``broad and persistent,'' and that 
enrollments will increase over time to where they would have been if 
not for the Web site's issues.
  Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, millions of Americans 
can now access affordable health insurance. With a focus on personal 
responsibility, preventive care, consumer protections, and increased 
choices, the Affordable Care Act has helped empower Americans to lead 
healthier lives.
  Let's put aside the punditry and focus on the facts.

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