[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5296]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    OBAMACARE DEADLINE: APRIL FOOLS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, today marks the legal 
deadline of registration for the Affordable Care Act, popularly known 
as ObamaCare.
  On March 12, 2014, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified before a 
House Ways and Means Committee. When asked, are you going to delay 
enrollment beyond March 31, she definitively answered, no, sir.
  Well, Madam Speaker, April Fools.
  Millions of Americans are finding ObamaCare today to be a very 
expensive and harmful April Fools' prank. One of those individuals is 
Sondra, a constituent from Clinton County, located in the Fifth 
District of Pennsylvania.
  Sondra emailed the following on Friday:

       I was just on the marketplace, and I can't believe the 
     prices. I also am wrong about ObamaCare including eye and 
     dental. I see that it does not. I thought this was supposed 
     to be better than what I would find privately. Not to my 
     surprise.
       Even with the tax credits, it is going to cost us just as 
     much. It seems they doubled the price on there to eat up the 
     tax credits. This whole thing has us so upset.
       We only make between $30,000-$40,000 a year, and our health 
     insurance is going to go from $320 a month for both of us to 
     doubling, at the least. We will pay more and get less 
     coverage and pay way more out of pocket.
       How does our President think this is helping us, the 
     working poor? This is a class we never hear anyone talk 
     about. We hear about the poor, middle class, and the wealthy, 
     but not the working poor. We are the ones who make too much 
     to get a handout, not that we want one, but not enough to 
     really make ends meet due to our poor economy and rapidly 
     rising inflation.
       Honestly, it would pay me to quit my job because we would 
     get all the help we need because our income would be so low, 
     and with my chronic health issues of diabetes, thyroid 
     disease, and arthritis, I would get Pennsylvania medical 
     assistance.
       How sad is it that our President has put the working poor 
     in that option? I could honestly just cry not knowing how we 
     will be able to pay for this health care penalty. We had what 
     we needed and could afford.
       Now, we can't afford it even with the government help, and 
     we have less coverage for higher premiums. How does this make 
     any sense? Ugh. Sorry for the rant.

                              {time}  1215

  Madam Speaker, Americans deserve solutions to assure access to 
affordable, quality health care that they determine that they need. As 
for ObamaCare, there are far too many winners and mostly losers like 
Sondra and her family, so it is fitting and accurate on this April 1 
day to say: ObamaCare? April fools.

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