Providing for Consideration of H.R. Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Do No Harm in Medicaid Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Protect Children's Innocence Act; and Relating to Consideration of H.R. Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I thank the vice chair of the committee for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the unaffordable care act was born as a lie and continues to be promoted in terms that are lies.

Mr. Speaker, do you remember these promises?

If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health insurance, you can keep your insurance. Americans will save over $2,500 per year.

All of those were lies, and now those who continue to support the unaffordable care act are misleading Americans about its current situation.

When the law was first debated, Democrats insisted that only 50 million Americans couldn't afford health insurance. That was exposed as a lie. Many Americans proved simply to be forgoing insurance in many instances. Democrats used this as an excuse to rewrite the entire framework of the individual healthcare insurance marketplace, forcing people onto plans that had their premiums rise by 129 percent since 2014. Indeed, the very first year ObamaCare went into effect, premiums skyrocketed by 47 percent. This is the true record of the unaffordable care act.

Despite the lies that continue to be told in the media to this day, Republicans have always proposed alternatives to the failed unaffordable care act framework that Democrats continue to force onto Americans. We are doing it again with this bill.

Instead of simply enabling the current fraud, waste, and abuse exposed in the unaffordable care act subsidy scheme that Democrats are addicted to, we are offering transformative policies that will root out hidden costs, attack inflationary programs, and increase competition throughout the entire healthcare insurance marketplace, lowering premiums for all Americans.

However, Mr. Speaker, even when all the evidence is presented to them on how rancid of a healthcare scheme the unaffordable care act really is, Democrats leap to their feet and become entirely apoplectic. They do not tell the truth about the current situation or what we are doing.

This is why: They fused themselves to the unaffordable care act to such a point that they outright refuse to seek reasonable reforms that help Americans afford healthcare. They won't do it.

Look at how they have superglued themselves to their temporary COVID subsidies that they themselves concocted and stamped an end date on, as my colleague has said.

I suppose all they know how to do is prop up a failed program that is littered with waste, fraud, and abuse, like cancerous lesions.

Don't take my word for it. Just look at the GAO report: Its estimates show millions of improper enrollments, costing American taxpayers up to $27 billion annually. One Social Security number used for 26,000 days of coverage, and more than 58,000 deceased people receiving tax credits.

All in all, it is a massive, fraudulent boondoggle for the American people. Meanwhile, Republicans remain committed to rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in all corners of the Federal Government.

The CBO already confirmed that our efforts to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in the unaffordable care act, by way of H.R. 1, lowered healthcare premiums for enrollees. Imagine that, attacking waste and fraud lowers costs. Yet, Democrats want to embrace the opposite and cement a system of inflation.

Here is the kicker, Mr. Speaker: Only 7 percent of Americans enrolled in an unaffordable care act plan would see a paltry 4 percent decrease in their premiums if these subsidies were extended.

Republicans are advancing real reforms in healthcare. Unlike Democrats, we are not attempting to place a Band-Aid on a ruptured artery and call it a day.

Mr. Speaker, the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act is our solution. It is the solution that the American people deserve.

It would lower healthcare premiums by 11 percent for all Americans, increase healthcare access, expand choice in healthcare, and bring about greater transparency to the healthcare system in the United States.

Republicans are offering a clear, responsible, and straightforward solution so that all Americans have access to healthcare that is affordable and meets their respective needs.

If our colleagues were serious about making healthcare more affordable for Americans, they would support this bill alongside Republicans. Let's see what they choose to do.

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