[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4518-4519]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     OBAMACARE IS FAILING HOOSIERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Messer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MESSER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to come here to 
the floor and talk about what is really happening under the Affordable 
Care Act, better known by the American people as ObamaCare.
  I just left a meeting with the President of the United States where 
he lobbied my colleagues to make clear to the American people what a 
disaster this law has been and why the law needs to be repealed and 
replaced with something far better.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that ObamaCare is failing Hoosiers. 
Healthcare costs continue to rise, and people have less coverage and 
less choice today than ever before. No doubt, some have benefited from 
the law, but millions more Hoosiers have been hurt by the law and are 
worse off today than they were before this law was passed.
  I have heard from countless Hoosiers in the Sixth District of 
Indiana, who are hurting under ObamaCare and who have sent me here to 
repeal this disastrous law.
  There is one message from a constituent from Greenfield who said: ``I 
am a perfectly healthy human being, and I used to pay $230 a month with 
a $500 deductible for my health care. Since ObamaCare, my premiums have 
risen to over $1,480 a month with a $10,000 deductible.''
  Or a dad in Shelbyville, who lost the healthcare plan he liked when 
ObamaCare took effect, and whose prescription costs for his daughter 
have now doubled and tripled under ObamaCare.
  Or the owner of a small telecom company in southern rural Indiana, 
who tells me that he and his employees have faced higher health 
insurance rates every year since ObamaCare with out-of-pocket costs 
increasing as well, not to mention the endless paperwork and red tape. 
He says: ``ObamaCare has been an absolute disaster for small businesses 
and our employees.''
  I heard from a cancer survivor from Vevay, whose plan went from $199 
a month to over $800 a month, and who couldn't keep her plan or her 
doctor. She says: ``I am a cancer survivor, and the old policy has 
taken me through three surgeries and worked well for me. Now we're 
paying over $1,300 a month with a $5,000 deductible, and the policy 
paid nothing the entire year. Then, we received a notice that, in 2017, 
the premium would raise again.''

[[Page 4519]]

  Or the family physician from Muncie, who told me his patients have 
``more limited options, longer wait times for approval of vital 
procedures and medications, and--through the confusing nature of the 
health insurance marketplace--have ended up with plans they didn't 
understand and couldn't afford.''
  Or the hardworking mom and wife in Shelbyville, whose husband lost 
hours at work because of ObamaCare's full-time employee mandates, and 
whose own health insurance increased in cost with less coverage. She 
says: ``We work hard for our benefits, and now the benefits are 
terrible. I am paying more for worse coverage, and we lost income. It 
was a double whammy.''
  These Hoosiers and so many others are being crushed by ObamaCare and 
its burdensome taxes, mandates, and fees. We can do better for 
Hoosiers, and this week we will. We will start the process of repealing 
ObamaCare and replacing it with something better.
  This week, Congress will vote on the American Health Care Act, the 
first phase of our plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare. This is a 
transformational change that will do away with ObamaCare's costly 
mandates, provide much-needed relief to Hoosiers, and create a 
healthcare system that actually lowers costs and increases choice. We 
are going to keep our promise, come together, and get this done.

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