[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9939]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TRUMP PROMISE ON HEALTHCARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, this week, the Senate is poised to 
completely break Donald Trump's promises on healthcare. Remember, he 
promised insurance for everyone, it would be less expensive, and it 
wouldn't touch Medicaid.
  Well, the CBO report, out yesterday, makes it devastatingly clear 
that the Republicans are ready to repudiate all three of those 
promises. Next year alone, 15 million Americans will lose their 
healthcare coverage.
  Over the course of the decade, that number will swell to 22 million 
Americans. And because they have disguised the impact to appear later 
in the next decade, we will watch those numbers skyrocket.
  Less expensive?
  Well, under their proposal, a 64-year-old with a $56,800 income--not 
upper middle class by any stretch of the imagination--will, by 2026, 
face an annual insurance premium of $20,000. Impacts are most 
pronounced on low-income and older Americans.
  Won't touch Medicaid?
  Their proposal anticipates $772 billion over the next decade to be 
slashed from that budget, a 26 percent cut for the health insurance 
provider that gives care to most Americans, 16 percent fewer people, 
people with higher costs, less coverage, and poorer insurance.
  They take a stab at the concern about the destabilization of the 
insurance market, which their proposal will do, by taking away the 
mandate that people have coverage, allowing people to wait until they 
are sick but still requiring insurers to cover them.
  There is an escape hatch. They don't have to provide that if there 
has been a break in coverage. Then there is 6 months' delay required 
before people can sign up. Think about what a 6-month delay could mean 
for somebody who is just diagnosed for cancer. It is the equivalent of 
a death sentence.
  The people you trust for your healthcare do not support this bill. 
The American Medical Association, hospitals, people who deal with 
rheumatism, cerebral palsy, cancer advocates, across the board they 
express reservations or outright opposition.
  Who do you trust with your medical care--who do you rely on who 
supports it?
  No one you rely on supports this measure.
  And make no mistake, healthcare in America will be worse. That is why 
the people you trust don't support it. Seniors in nursing homes and 
disabled children will suffer and, yes, we ought to admit it; people 
will die. There is very good research available that is logical, 
suggesting that for every 20 million people who do not have insurance 
coverage, an extra 24,000 people a year die year after year.
  And why are we doing this?
  To fulfill a campaign pledge and to be able to cut taxes for those 
who need it the least. This massive reduction in healthcare finances 
massive tax reductions. This is immoral.
  There is a reason that it was hatched in secret, keeping it away even 
from Republican senators while it was being formulated, and why they 
are trying to jam this through in 1 week--a parody of Republican 
complaints about not enough process for ObamaCare. This is 
unprecedented and it is wrong.
  It is our job, each and every one of us, to make sure the American 
public knows what is at stake before it is too late.

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