Emergency Security Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act, 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. WARNOCK. Madam President, I believe healthcare is a human right. And with all the incentives on the table for Georgia to expand Medicaid, it is past time to do so. My home State of Georgia, where State leaders have refused to expand Medicaid, has the opportunity to provide affordable healthcare to 646,000 people who could qualify.

I refuse to allow Georgians to suffer and be cut off from care while politicians play games. This is why I introduced recently the Medicaid Saves Lives Act. This is legislation that would allow people in States like mine, that haven't expanded Medicaid, an alternative path to health coverage; because for far too many, access to affordable, reliable healthcare is the difference between life and death.

I agree with Martin Luther King, Jr., who said that, ``of all the injustices, inequality in health care is the most shocking and the most inhumane.'' So I am grateful that this plan, the Medicaid Saves Lives Act, which I introduced the other day, is positioned to be included in the forthcoming economic package.

That is why I rise again on the Senate floor to tell the story of another Georgian, a story that gets to the heart of why this bill is important.

This is Amy Bielawski. Amy is the owner of a small business, Hare- Brained Productions. It is an event planning and entertainment company in Tucker, GA. As you can imagine, Amy's company took a significant hit during the pandemic.

Unable to book regular gigs and plan events--events that all of us miss as we have been clawing our way back from this pandemic--Amy qualified for unemployment benefits this past year. And with that critical support, Amy had temporary access to affordable marketplace plans created by the Affordable Care Act.

But with the end of Georgia's unemployment benefits looming and the entertainment sector still suffering from the effects of the pandemic, her access to coverage--the coverage she so desperately needs--is on the brink again.

At the same time, she will have to manage her thyroid disease, high blood pressure, pituitary gland tumor, fibroids, and all the other health hiccups that come along with aging.

If Georgia was to expand Medicaid or if there was a Federal Medicaid Program for nonexpansion States like Georgia, Amy would no longer have to worry about getting reliable health coverage for her chronic conditions. This is the human face of the public policy we make or the public policy we fail to make.

As our State's healthcare options stand now, Amy says she ``doesn't think they care about people like me falling through the cracks.'' Even more disappointing, when asked what Medicaid expansion would mean for her, Amy was reluctant to even picture that future. She said: Well, it is really difficult to say ``because I've never had consistent healthcare--it is hard to imagine.''

Think about that. It is hard for somebody who works every day with a kind of entrepreneurial thrust and serious work ethic, grit, and determination, in the richest country on the planet. She says it is hard for her to imagine having consistent healthcare. She says she is ``used to being shoved aside and doing without.'' With all of Amy's health issues, doing without, as she puts it, can only work for so long.

We are costing Georgia more and more every day by not providing access to healthcare to the people who need it most. Like Amy's story speaks to, without affordable and comprehensive coverage, preventive care and annual appointments are skipped. Conditions that could perhaps be treated or seen at their early stage and prevented, worsen, and Georgians end up using emergency rooms instead of addressing these health issues in primary care appointments months prior.

This past year, Amy herself had to go to ER because of chest pains, and with a history of high blood pressure, she couldn't ignore the sharp pain in her chest that wasn't going anywhere. So she made her way to the ER. After all, what if it was a heart attack?

A short stay later, after spending less than an hour in a hospital room, she went home with a $3,000 bill. That is bad policy for her. It is certainly bad policy for every Georgian. What kind of costs would be avoided, for the hospital and for Amy herself, if she had access to a primary care provider through Medicaid, and more regular, affordable, consistent access to care?

In other States, Amy would be eligible for Medicaid. And, according to Amy, access to reliable, quality, affordable healthcare through Medicaid would be nothing short, she says, of ``MIRACULOUS.''

Amy is one Georgian who represents the stories of hundreds of thousands in our State and across the country who need the Medicaid Saves Lives Act. And until we get this done--because I believe that healthcare is a human right--I am going to keep lifting up Amy's story and the stories of other Georgians who would benefit from this lifesaving legislation.

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