[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2520]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Heck) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HECK. Mr. Speaker, it may be Valentine's Day, but I rise today to 
share a story of a Christmas miracle.
  Now, this is little Gracie, and she was born on Christmas Day in 
2015. Unfortunately, not too long after she was born, she was diagnosed 
with a respiratory virus. It is a very bad thing for little people 
because they have little lungs and little respiratory airways. Frankly, 
it can be extremely dangerous.
  To make matters worse, she was snowed in at the hospital where she 
was born. She had to spend 5 days at the NICU before they could 
transport her to a children's hospital. When she finally did arrive at 
Seattle Children's Hospital, she had pneumonia, E. coli, and a 
collapsed lung. But, fortunately, little Gracie is a fighter, as was 
her medical team, and she made a complete and full recovery.
  With coverage through Medicaid, her parents were able to focus on her 
care and her future. The financial stress of hospital bills that come 
with intensive care, a cardiac catheter, a life flight, and numerous 
medications was daunting, but it was not devastating.
  Gracie's story is just one example of the difference Medicaid 
expansion through the ACA has made for millions of children throughout 
our Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, when I am home, I hear these stories all day long about 
how the ACA has made a real difference in the lives of people. The ACA 
in my State expanded coverage to more than 750,000 people. In fact, 
this January, we hit record enrollment of 225,000 sign-ups. That is a 
13 percent jump from last year.
  The ACA is working for many people across America; but let's be 
honest: we have also heard the other stories from people who aren't 
seeing these gains. Instead, they are seeing higher premiums and 
increased medical costs in general, with little improvement in 
coverage. Those are legitimate concerns that Congress needs to address.
  But whenever Congress makes major changes, such as Social Security or 
Medicare, or enacts big ideas, there will always be unexpected results 
in parts of the program that don't function as anticipated or designed. 
Our job is to follow up, see what works, and adapt accordingly going 
forward. Even the best laws are going to require some adjustment.
  Let's do that. Let's do it the smart way, the American way, and work 
together to fix the parts of the ACA that need fixing while maintaining 
that which works. Repeal and replace is not the answer. It is not the 
answer. Working together to fix it is the answer.
  As we continue--or begin--to work together, I hope we will remember 
Gracie and know that health care is not a miracle. Health care is the 
result of hardworking doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals and 
a financially viable healthcare system and our actions here to support 
that in Congress.
  We all come here for lots of reasons: philosophy, values, and 
ideology. We come here to represent our districts and their major 
components. I have the privilege to represent Joint Base Lewis-McChord, 
the largest force projection base on the West Coast, and many thousands 
of State employees--I have the State capital--who work every day to 
elevate the human condition of their friends and neighbors. We come 
here to represent the 672,554 people of our districts.
  Mostly, I hope, however, that we come here to represent the Gracies 
of our districts. What I believe deep in my soul is that, if we will 
keep Gracie and the Gracies of our district in our hearts and foremost 
in our minds, if we keep them as our touchstone and our North Star, 
then America is going to be all right. I plead with you to do just 
that.

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