Stories From Home: the Human Cost of Expiring Healthcare Tax Credits

Floor Speech

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Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) for organizing this Special Order.

As we get ready for Thanksgiving, families across our Nation are coming together. It's a time to celebrate and express gratitude for family. It's a time of reflection too.

But as Americans gather, they are also worried about the family budget too. That Thanksgiving meal is going to be more expensive this year. For millions of families, individuals, small business owners covered by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), so is their health care. Which is why I am today with my colleagues. So we can lift up these voices as we work to help bring them relief and pass legislation to extend those ACA premium tax credits.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to stand in the gap for my constituent Wesley and his family from Milwaukee. Like millions of Americans, Wesley and his family depend on the subsidies provided through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Wesley wrote to me explaining that the extension of ACA subsidies has allowed him to afford healthcare for his entire family. Without them, he would likely be forced to make the difficult decision to insure only his daughter.

He's one of over 300,000 Wisconsinites covered by the ACA.

Another is Jeffrey from Milwaukee:

I am self-employed and completely count on these credits in order to afford my own health insurance, without them I may be uninsured. The anxiety that I, and I'm sure others are feeling the same.

Or Robert from Milwaukee:

I was on Medicaid until I made just $200 too much, at which time I was kicked off.

However, I was able to find a plan on the Marketplace that met my needs. After looking at all the options, I found out I could afford a silver plan because the monthly $900 premium was reimbursed by the government. Without the stipend, I cannot pay this premium and I would have to look at the bottom bronze plans. Very little is covered. My premiums would be lower but my deductibles would be astronomically high.

I am an in-home senior caregiver working part-time so I can take care of my aging parents.

Or Dennis from Milwaukee:

For thousands of Americans like me, the ACA is not a political talking point, it is the wall between a bearable, if difficult, life and complete financial and medical ruin. I relied on the ACA's Marketplace for my health coverage, the only way I could secure a policy that didn't deny me for my age, that capped my out-of-pocket costs, and that allowed me to maintain my own health. Now, with funding cuts and legislative actions targeting the core of the ACA, that coverage is dissolving. The fear is a cold, suffocating blanket. My wife's cancer care is a complex, costly, and continuous reality. With the protections and financial assistance of the ACA gone, her medical bills--for chemotherapy, hospice, hospital stays, and medication--could easily become astronomical, costs that studies show quickly bankrupt families even with good insurance.

This blatant assault on Americans' healthcare must stop. President Trump and Republicans have had over a decade to develop an alternative healthcare plan--ever since they began proclaiming their intent to dismantle the ACA. Well, guess what, America: They still have absolutely nothing. President Trump famously said he has ``concepts of a plan.'' Mr. President, and to my Republican colleagues, the American people cannot rely on a concept that exists only in your imagination.

House Democrats stood firm for more than 40 days to support a budget that addressed the rising cost of healthcare. Now we stand on the precipice of a crisis caused by President Trump and Republicans who seem determined to make the livelihoods of the American people worse, not better. Again, they have no plan to help them.

Across the country, stripping healthcare access from millions of Americans and driving up costs for everyone else. This is especially prevalent in minority and rural communities. So I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: Why do you want people to suffer?

The ACA tax credits ensure that families, seniors, young adults, and workers have access to quality healthcare. These tax credits provide critical financial relief for millions who rely on health insurance coverage.

Affordability remains a top concern for Americans, and it baffles me that Republicans would cause such unnecessary harm to low- and middle- income households.

I will continue fighting to protect your pocketbooks as we defend your right to affordable healthcare. We cannot claim to be the greatest country on earth when one side is willing to watch millions suffer or be kicked off plans they have relied on for years. Our Nation is already facing challenging times, and stripping away healthcare for political gimmicks only causes further harm. Therefore, we must continue working to extend the ACA tax credits to ensure Americans have access to affordable, reliable healthcare.

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