State Health Care Premium Reduction Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I am really pleased today to join with the Speaker and other committee chairs to have successfully introduced the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act and welcome the measure's consideration in this House today.

Hearing the former chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee a few minutes ago, a decent guy, he said that there was room for bipartisanship in the healthcare debate. I mean, I have been here for a long time. Where was the bipartisanship--and I am going to submit something. Republicans, in all the years I have been in this House, they have not agreed amongst themselves on healthcare, never mind agreeing with Democrats on healthcare.

So, for years, we have worked to expand access. That is what this argument is about today. We want to make sure that affordable healthcare exists for the American family and to build upon the coverage gains of the Affordable Care Act.

The COVID-19 crisis only adds urgency to an already pressing problem for millions of American families, a problem that has been consistently exacerbated by the Trump administration's relentless crusade to dismantle the American healthcare system.

Recall on the campaign trail when President Trump was asked by reporters what he intended to replace ObamaCare with, and he said: Don't worry, pal, you are going to love it.

That was the answer.

Just last week, under the cover of night and while many Americans were likely sleeping, the Trump administration took another step toward invalidating our healthcare laws. They filed a brief with the Supreme Court in support of undoing the ACA and ending protections for nearly 130 million Americans with preexisting conditions.

I helped to write this law. I am really proud of it.

They staked out this position during a pandemic, when millions of Americans need healthcare more than ever.

Our new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act is utilized to expand tax credits for lower premium costs for the American consumer. For the first time in the history of the ACA, no one will pay more than 8.5 percent of their income on a silver plan through the marketplace.

I will quickly share the other scenarios that people will witness savings through:

A family of four earning $40,000 would save nearly $1,600 in premiums each year.

An adult earning about $19,000 would see premiums cut to zero, saving $800 a year.

And a 64-year-old earning $57,000 a year would save more than $8,700 in premiums each year.

These are significant savings that would make a big difference for Americans particularly during the current health and economic crisis that we find ourselves in.

I want to thank Representative Underwood for her tireless work on these provisions and advocating for the millions of Americans who will see their premium costs go down, recalling that when the ACA was offered and embraced 20 million Americans received health insurance.

I want to thank Representative Wild for leading the effort to remove a longstanding barrier for families with an offer of affordable family coverage, as well as Representative Neguse for his work on behalf of Social Security beneficiaries who were at risk of losing premium tax credits for the time they were covered by the ACA marketplace.

These tax credits aren't the only benefits consumers can expect under this very important legislation. We also slashed prescription drug costs, we reduced consumers' deductibles, encouraged more States to expand Medicaid and establish their own ACA marketplace, and to put an end to the expansion of junk insurance plans.

Notably, this legislation reduces the number of uninsured Americans by more than 4 million people. These are issues that matter to everyday Americans perhaps now in this COVID crisis more than ever. Ensuring all Americans can access quality healthcare without risking their family's financial security really shouldn't be a partisan issue.

After almost 70 votes on Republican bills to repeal or undermine the ACA, I am really happy to stand on this floor today in support of this legislation that will continue to build on the gains of the ACA, for legislation that increases access to affordable, quality healthcare, and for legislation that is for the American people.

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson).

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I would point out that 100 percent of the children in Massachusetts have healthcare today and 97 percent of the adults.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington State (Ms. DelBene).

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider).

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell).

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta).

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Murphy).

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to gentlewoman from California (Ms. Judy Chu).

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez).

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford).

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Suozzi).

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Chicago (Ms. Schakowsky).

Madam Speaker, this is very sensible legislation. It builds upon the Affordable Care Act. It keeps the protections of preexisting conditions. It makes the children's healthcare initiative permanent. But most importantly, it expands the opportunity.

I am going to reiterate something I said earlier about the experience we have had in Massachusetts with the Affordable Care Act. 100 percent of the children in Massachusetts have health insurance. Ninety-seven percent of the adults in Massachusetts have health insurance, and it polls in the high seventies in terms of consumer satisfaction. It was the experiment that worked.

We should be expanding healthcare opportunities for members of the American family, not trying to deny them. We shouldn't be filing a lawsuit in front of the Supreme Court suggesting that we should do away with the Affordable Care Act.

Last point, and I mean this very sincerely, as long as I have been in this House, Republicans have never agreed amongst themselves on health insurance, never mind trying to find an agreement with us. They have always disagreed sharply about the role of government in health insurance. So before they give us a lecture on how this ought to proceed, perhaps they could offer a competing plan that has never happened in my time in Congress.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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