Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. PALLONE. I yield myself 2 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I wanted to thank my colleague from Florida, who just spoke, for saying and admitting that health care reform does create jobs, because, if you listen to the Republicans, they have been saying over and over again that that's not the case. But he finally said, yes, it does create jobs.
That's what we really should be doing here. We should be creating jobs and improving the economy, not talking about repealing health care reform, which already is providing so many benefits to many Americans.
Yesterday, I saw a statement from our former Republican majority leader, Senator Frist from Tennessee, who said that we shouldn't do the repeal. He recognized the fact that this legislation, this health care reform, is actually making a difference in people's lives and that we should build upon it, as Senator Frist said, a Republican, rather than just trying to do an outright repeal, which is a complete waste of time.
Now what I am hearing from my constituents is that they like the benefits that are already coming out from health care reform, whether it is eliminating all the discriminatory practices, like lifetime caps or preexisting conditions or annual caps, or being able to put your children up to age 26 on your policies. These benefits have already kicked in, and Americans actually like the benefits. They understand why they are helpful to them.
The only group I can think of that actually would benefit from repeal is the big insurance companies. Unfortunately, that is the bidding, if you will, that the Republicans are doing, the other side of the aisle. The insurance companies want to continue to increase premiums by more than double digits. They don't want to cut into their profits.
One of the things that kicked in on January 1 is a provision that says that 80 percent of your premiums have to actually go to provide benefits. They can't go to the shareholders or to the profits of the insurance companies. The insurance companies are the only ones that benefit from repeal because they can raise premiums, they can have discriminatory practices, and they can just increase their profits.
I will use an example. I think the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter) used this example before about someone who has breast cancer.
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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself an additional 15 seconds.
Now, because of the policies of the health insurance reform, if people have breast cancer and there are recurrences, they will not experience lifetime caps or annual caps. They will be able to go back and have chemotherapy or whatever is necessary.
Those are the types of benefits that have kicked in, and they should continue. We should oppose repeal.
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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds.
Mr. Speaker, I have heard talk on the other side of the aisle about small business, but I would point out that repeal would eliminate tax credits for small businesses. In Mr. Burgess's district, there are up to 13,600 small businesses that are eligible for the tax credit, and repeal would force these small businesses to drop coverage or bear the full costs of coverage themselves.
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Mr. PALLONE. I yield myself 15 seconds.
Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to mention the gentleman from Texas was decrying the HHS study about preexisting conditions. These are very serious preexisting conditions: heart disease, cancer, asthma, arthritis, high blood pressure. They are people that have had their policies canceled or they couldn't get insurance because of these preexisting conditions. I don't think they should be belittled.
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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds.
I hear talk on the other side of the aisle about jobs, but I would point out that under Democratic policies, including health reform, there's been a strong private sector job growth this past year. In 2010, there have been 12 straight months of private sector job growth. And under the Obama administration overall this past year, we have created a total of 1.3 million new private sector jobs.
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Mr. PALLONE. I yield myself 15 seconds.
Mr. Speaker, I heard the gentleman from Louisiana say that Members of Congress were not in the exchange, and that is simply not the case. And I don't want to hear it repeated from the other side of the aisle. This current bill that we passed says that Members of Congress have to go into the exchange and have the same health care benefits through the exchange as any other American. So don't keep repeating that because it is simply not true.
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Mr. PALLONE. I yield myself 15 seconds, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. McKinley mentioned seniors.
I would point out that, beginning in 2011, the health care reform provides a 50 percent discount for prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries. There are 12,100 Medicare beneficiaries in Representative McKinley's district who benefit from these provisions. Seniors benefit from this bill, and if you repeal the bill, those seniors are going to have a loss.
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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds.
Madam Speaker, I would just like to point out again--we've said it over and over again--that the CBO, which gives the official estimate, says that over the next 10 years the health care reform saves $230 billion, and after that, for 10 years, over $1 trillion.
The Republicans can't get away from the fact that if they repeal this bill, all that is going to do is increase the deficit significantly, because our bill, the current law, actually reduces the deficit.
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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds.
Madam Speaker, again, Dr. Burgess talked about impact on hospitals. I want to point out that the health care reform law benefits hospitals by covering more Americans and thereby reducing the costs of providing care to the uninsured. Repeal would undo this benefit, increasing the costs of uncompensated care by $249 million annually for hospitals in his district.
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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds.
The gentleman from New Hampshire, if he votes for this repeal, he is eliminating new health care coverage options for 1,900 uninsured young adults, increasing the number of people without health insurance by 24,000 individuals, and increasing the cost to hospitals of providing uncompensated care by $35 million annually in his district.
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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, in this debate the truth should be told about the Republican repeal. In fact, the Republican bill should come up with a health warning that their measure is dangerous to America's health. For many people, the issue of having health coverage is a matter of life and death, and I would say there are so many benefits that we have pointed out during this debate that already exist for the average American that to talk about repeal at this time and eliminate those benefits for those people that have preexisting conditions that wouldn't be able to get coverage, or would face lifetime caps or rescissions, it simply needs to be told that the fact of the matter is that right now there are tremendous benefits that are coming to the average American from this legislation. And to repeal it at this point makes absolutely no sense. It's completely a waste of time.
We have no indication that this repeal would ever go to the Senate or ever be considered by the President. And I just wish that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, instead of wasting their time talking about this repeal that is going nowhere, would instead focus on the economy. Focus on jobs. When I talk to my constituents, that's what they want us to deal with.
We just began this session of Congress about 2 weeks ago. The focus should be on the economy, on jobs, on trying to do what we can to improve the lives of the average American. We have tremendous benefits that exist under this health care legislation now. Why focus our attention, in this first 2 or 3 weeks of the Congress, on this repeal? It makes absolutely no sense.
And I would ask my colleagues, after today, please, let's focus on jobs. Let's focus on what we can do to improve the economy. Let's not continue this debate on health care, because actually what my constituents want is they want this bill to unfold. They like the benefits that have already come forward. And a lot more benefits will accrue. Most Americans will ultimately be covered by health insurance, and that's the key. Let's focus on jobs and the economy and stop this ruse about health care repeal.
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