-9999
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. President, colleagues, I rise in support of this proposal to extend the ACA tax credits, extend the existing law for another year, reopen the government, and give us time to negotiate the longer term extension of the Affordable Care Act.
This whole discussion and, frankly, the whole debate we have been having over the last several weeks over the Affordable Care Act brings me back to the immediate aftermath of the passage of that bill when I was doing sidewalk office hours inside the Glendale Galleria. I had my little coffee table set up there.
I had someone come up to my table and ask me how I voted on that bill, how I voted on ObamaCare. When I told him that I voted for it, he was indignant.
He said: What could you possibly have liked? What could you have possibly liked about that bill?
I said: Well, actually, there were a lot of things I liked about it. I liked the fact that if you had a preexisting condition, you could get healthcare.
I remember another of my constituents saying that he was 65; he was a preexisting condition.
I liked the fact that if you had a kid who was 26 or under, you could keep them on your insurance policy if they didn't have one.
Then I said: I liked the fact that tens of millions of people that can't otherwise afford healthcare are going to be able to get healthcare.
He looked at me and said something that I never imagined I would hear. He said: And you really think that is such a good idea?
That is, that millions of people who can't afford healthcare would be able to get it.
I said: Well, yes, I do. Don't you?
He said: No, I don't. If they can't afford it, they shouldn't have it.
And I recognize the moment he said it that he was speaking for millions of people.
I had had one of those huge townhalls with 3,000 people, and no one would say that even at those screaming townhalls. But his view was that if they can't afford it, they shouldn't have it, and I think that view is really at the center of this debate.
In the wealthiest country in the world, doesn't the government have any responsibility to make sure that healthcare is accessible to people? I think we do.
Now, who are these millions of people that are going to lose their healthcare if we don't extend the ACA tax credits? Well, let me just share the stories of two of them, my constituents who wrote to me.
The first one said:
My bronze HMO high deductible plan is $752.23 per month, and using most, but not all of the tax credit, my monthly premium is $200 per month and that is using $552.23 worth of credits.
I'm currently single and retired so my income is well within the limits to qualify for the credits. [But] if all the credits go away for 2026, this will wipe me out and I will likely go without insurance even though I know it is not a good idea.
Here is the story from a second constituent:
Anyone else gotten their health plan rates for 2026? I did today, and I will have to cancel mine. With chronic conditions requiring daily prescriptions, weekly doctor visits, current quarterly labs and biannual mammograms, my share of cost will go up well over $1,000 per month, and as a senior on a fixed and low income, I could not possibly come up with a thousand dollars a month. Sadly, there are so many seniors who will be in this position.
That is who we are talking about here. These are some of the millions of people that will lose their access to healthcare if we don't extend the ACA.
So I urge support for this. As Leader Schumer said, we can reopen the government today if we can simply extend the tax credits for another year and give us time, through a bipartisan commission, to work on a more permanent extension. I urge support.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source