[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5129]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  Mr. SCHUMER. Now on the ACA, Mr. President. The HHS Secretary 
appeared before the House appropriators yesterday and testified that, 
under his direction, the Department of Health and Human Services may 
try to undermine our Nation's healthcare system in several ways. 
Specifically, he hinted that he might make it easier for insurers to 
offer coverage without certain essential benefits and refused to say if 
he would continue certain programs that stabilize our healthcare 
markets. That is in line with steps this administration has already 
taken to undermine the healthcare law, such as when they discontinued 
the public advertising campaigns that encouraged people to sign up for 
insurance. All of these things harm our Nation's healthcare system, and 
they should be ceased immediately.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________