Affordable Care Act

Floor Speech

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, today, the President put forth some conversation about the Affordable Care Act that focuses especially on women's health. I am absolutely delighted to come to the floor to address that issue in that--and I hope every woman in America understands this--because of the Affordable Care Act, being a woman is no longer a preexisting medical condition. As the mother of five children--four daughters and one son--I am very excited about this.

Over the break, I had the privilege of being at a meeting with some researchers on the subject of breast cancer in particular, and they spent a good deal of the time telling us what the possibilities were with research that should be funded--that is a budget issue, another subject, but one that is related here--and that we could remove this threat to women's health with proper research.

They took time to say that one thing that was helping women with breast cancer more than anything was the Affordable Care Act--that they would have access to care without being discriminated against because of a preexisting medical condition, that no longer would they have annual or lifetime limits on the health insurance that they would receive. The relief of the stress from all of that is a very healthy thing for people who have a diagnosis.

So whatever it is--whether it is mammograms as my colleague Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz so generously shared her story with us about her experience or, earlier, as Congresswoman DeLauro shared hers and as other Members shared the stories of their constituents--this is really very important. Moms are the hubs of families. Many of them fear this diagnosis. Many families in America have been affected by it.

With our investments in research and with the Affordable Care Act, women have reason to be very, very hopeful that this can be prevented with early detection--and not only with early detection but with regular detection. Then, on top of that, if they have that feared diagnosis, they will receive the care that they deserve.

There is one other point I want to make about it because we all worship at the altar of biomedical research and what it means for our country and the thought that we could be rid of breast cancer in a handful of years: we want to make sure every woman in America and every person in America benefits from that research. The vehicle for that is the Affordable Care Act. It stands right there with Social Security, with Medicare, with affordable--and that is the word, ``affordable''--health care for all Americans as a pillar of health and economic security for the American people.

Today, we focus on moms--we focus on women--and we say, Thank God. No longer will being a woman be a preexisting medical condition.

Source