[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 10131]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          GOP HEALTHCARE BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, Members on both sides of the aisle have 
offered their share of passionate words about the GOP healthcare bill.
  And as can happen, the debate has been deeply polarized here, leaving 
Americans to wonder sometimes whether the facts get obstructed by the 
politics of the day.
  So I want to take a minute and share what some experts have had to 
say about the Republican healthcare proposal. These are not 
politicians; far from it. These words come from folks who operate 
outside the walls of Washington's halls and have dedicated themselves 
to fighting for those struggling with mental illness.
  According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Republican 
healthcare plan will ``force people with mental illness out of work, 
onto the streets, and into jails and emergency rooms.''
  The legislation ``shows dangerous disregard for the well-being of 
people with substance use disorders and their families and erases 
decades of progress,'' says the Association for Addiction 
Professionals.
  Mental Health America tells us that this bill ``will ultimately do 
significant harm to people with all chronic conditions, including 
mental illness, while increasing the cost of healthcare to everyone.''
  The National Association for Rural Mental Health agrees, saying, 
``these actions will leave millions of Americans with serious mental 
health and substance use conditions without life-sustaining and 
essential health insurance coverage, especially at a time when the 
Nation is suffering from the largest opioid epidemic in history.''
  In short, this bill would be, according to the American Psychiatric 
Association, ``particularly devastating to the millions of Americans in 
need of mental health and substance use treatment.''
  Mr. Speaker, these groups are not political organizations. They are 
doctors; they are healthcare professionals; they are patients; they are 
advocates who have dedicated their lives day and night to filling the 
gaps of a badly broken mental health system. Take it from them.
  This is what TrumpCare is offering our country. This is what they are 
trying to sell us at a time when we are losing nearly 100 Americans a 
day to an opioid epidemic. This is what is being negotiated behind 
closed doors as we speak while the rest of us read reports that tell us 
that the death toll from opioids could reach well over half a million 
people in the next decade.
  So let me be clear: You cannot advocate for comprehensive mental 
health reform and then stand on the opposite side of nearly every major 
mental health organization in this country. You cannot claim to be a 
champion for those suffering from mental illness and then support a 
bill that guts funding for Medicaid, which is the largest payer of 
mental healthcare in this country.
  You cannot say that you are committed to addressing the opioid 
epidemic and then stand behind a piece of legislation that gives 
insurance companies cover to deny those patients addiction treatment 
and to tell those in the grips of addiction to summon just a little 
more will.
  You have to choose: With these families or with this bill? Which side 
are you on?

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