[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9942-9943]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               TRUMPCARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to speak about a young man by 
the name of Will, who is 34 years old and tells us a story that, if he 
was a Canadian, there would be a good chance that he could live 17 more 
years. He has cystic fibrosis, and I imagine there are many families 
with children who have that, but he is concerned about TrumpCare and 
the impact.
  At age 2, he was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a hereditary disease 
impacting 30,000 Americans. He says:

       Imagine being under water and coming up for air, but 
     instead of breathing, you uncontrollably cough that air out. 
     The harder you try to breathe, the more you cough. At its 
     worst, this disease feels like a long, drawn-out panic attack 
     set to the soundtrack of an endless hacking cough. At 34, 
     statistically, I

[[Page 9943]]

     have 7 more years left before my lungs cease to function.

  He mentions that if he were in Canada, statistically, he would have 
17 more years because of the healthcare, but he also says this is not 
an exaggeration:

       The cold data from a recent study by the U.S. Cystic 
     Fibrosis Foundation, the conclusion is that Canada's 
     nationalized single-payer healthcare system that guarantees 
     health insurance for everyone is the primary reason why 
     Canadians with my disease will live longer.

  But look what happened to him:

       For the past 4 years, however, my disease has gone into 
     reverse. I have been gradually getting better. It is an 
     extraordinary sensation. A new medication called Kalydeco 
     made by a company in Boston has given me the promise of 
     extending both the length and quality of my life. I have been 
     healthy enough to work abroad as a freelance journalist.

  A year and a half ago, Will got married.

       My wife and I hope to one day have kids, but today is a 
     sobering day. The House Republicans replaced the Affordable 
     Care Act, and if the Senate bill goes through, a plan that 
     likely won't allow me to remain on this drug, then my long-
     term plans go out the window. I have a preexisting condition. 
     My outlook would likely regress back to the one of short-term 
     survival and carpe diem. That is a very different future than 
     the one I plan to have.

  That is what TrumpCare represents to millions of Americans: higher 
costs; less coverage; not 22 million now, but in 2026, 49 million 
Americans will not be insured.
  How can you? Where is the moral standing?
  It guts protections for preexisting conditions no matter what kind of 
smoke and mirrors the Senate is trying to tell us. It does not exist.
  It has got a crushing age tax. If you are over 50, more of your 
income will be used for your insurance premiums, up to $12,000 to 
$15,000.
  And it steals from Medicare. It makes the Medicare trust fund 
insolvent.
  In my own State of Texas, here is a long chart that talks to each 
Member, including my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, how 
many people in their district will lose their health insurance.
  I would ask the question: Is there any mercy? Is there anyone that 
understands?
  In my district alone, almost 100,000--89,000--individuals will be 
losing their insurance; almost 20,000 of those will be children. And it 
goes on in other Members' districts, talks about children: 7,000, 
9,000, 8,000, 15,000, 13,000, 12,000, 10,000, 14,000, 18,000, 16,000 
children in different districts in the State of Texas will lose their 
insurance.
  And then Will, who would have and has now, because of the Affordable 
Care Act, a decent life, with a preexisting condition that he 
described, how would you like to come from under water and try to 
breathe and that breathing is undermined by the hacking of that cough?
  I hope that this bill is derailed. I hope that TrumpCare in the House 
and the Senate never sees the light of day, not because I don't want to 
work with my colleagues, but because the chronically ill will suffer 
and many will die. The statistics show that in the State of Texas, Mr. 
Speaker.
  I conclude with this one sentence, Mr. Speaker. I want to go back to 
Mr. Clay, and I ask the Attorney General to investigate the shooting of 
Mr. Castile, and to do it now.

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