Protect Health Care Access for All
Floor Speech
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Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to bring awareness to the Republicans' effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and weaken protections provided by Medicaid and Medicare. Republicans began their sabotage of the ACA when many of their Governors, including Alabama's Governor, refused to expand Medicaid. In these states, the full benefits of the law haven't been realized. Working families have been left behind, rural hospitals have closed, and premiums have risen. Make no mistake, these governors created an environment in which Republican politicians could campaign on the failures of the ACA, all while taking NO credit for the failures they created. The millions of working Americans who fall in the Medicaid gap and live in non- expansion states have been overlooked! This body needs to be laser focused on improving the marketplace for the working Americans who have fallen victim to the lack of Medicaid expansion. Last year, I sat down with my hairdresser in Birmingham, and she immediately told me about how she had lost her health coverage. She didn't know why, but as she explained her situation, I quickly realized that she had fallen into our state's Medicaid gap. A few years before in 2014, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, she received Cost Sharing Reductions to afford commercial health insurance for the first time at an affordable rate. Unfortunately, President Trump has decided that he doesn't value those CSRs and has pulled those subsidies. But last year, before his harmful decision was implemented, my hairdresser fell victim to another form of health care sabotage--our Republican Governor's failure to expand Medicaid. Since 2014, my hairdresser had comprehensive coverage through Blue Cross, subsidized by cost sharing reductions from the ACA. She had access to primary care appointments and everything she needed to lead a healthy life. Unfortunately, hairdressing is one of the many careers in the service economy in which income fluctuates from year to year. And in 2017, her income fell below the poverty line. If she lived in an expansion state, she would have had the option to be covered by Medicaid while she continued to work. But instead, she lives in Alabama. She was left without coverage because she made too much to qualify for Medicaid. She was forced into the commercial market with no premium assistance whatsoever. Premiums are higher in states that didn't expand Medicaid. Therefore, premiums in Alabama are much higher than what she could afford. President Trump's elimination of the cost-sharing reductions has been cited by insurers as a driving force behind premium hikes in 2018. My hairdresser was anxious about having an emergency in which she would be left with large medical bills she couldn't pay. I was heartbroken seeing her pain. Fortunately, we were able to connect her with patient navigators at a large hospital in Birmingham. The Trump Administration has ended contracts with navigators under the ACA, but since the hospital has sufficient resources, they have taken the cost of continuing the program on themselves. I was happy we could help her, but there are millions of working Americans like her who don't have that kind of access to their Member of Congress. For these Americans, even a year without basic health care coverage can be catastrophic. When I think about the health disparities currently plaguing Republican states, I think about all of the constituents I've met while in Congress. We cannot allow our working constituents to continue being victims of political malpractice. We can no longer ignore the vulnerable residents of non-expansion states and their needs. Make no mistake, the ACA strengthened access to primary health care services across the country, even in non-expansion states. In Alabama alone, the law gave 897,000 mental health and substance use disorder benefits, treated more than two million children and adults for pre- existing conditions, and gave more than 650,000 Medicare enrollees free preventives services. However, approximately 235,000 Alabamians would have gained health insurance coverage if the state expanded Medicaid. It is my sincere hope that Congress will work together to alleviate the economic constraints of health care access for hardworking individuals across America. We need to restore what was best about the ACA and improve access for all.
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