Affordable Care Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today, we are here to talk about the Affordable Care Act, about some of its milestones and the benefits to the people of the United States, also about some of the critiques that have come up over the last few years and in the last few months.

The Affordable Care Act has succeeded in doing a few things. The United States, for a long time, has been the wealthiest nation on Earth; however, millions and millions of Americans, despite our country's wealth, have been unable to get health care insurance. Many folks have suffered a very long time, either themselves or their family members, in not being able to see a doctor when they have needed to and in being kicked off of insurance because they have hit lifetime caps. College students have gone without insurance for years because they could no longer stay on their parents' plans.

There was, I know, a discussion earlier on the floor--I think during the lunch hour--and there was a question raised by one of the Republican Members. Essentially, his question was: What has the Affordable Care Act done?

Well, there are several concrete things that it has done for the United States. The first is that 3 million students have been able to stay on their parents' insurance plans, where they otherwise would have been kicked off before. The average age where students were kicked off before was about 19. Under the Affordable Care Act, millions of college students can now stay on until the age of 26.

We know this number--5 million people, so far, and growing--have signed up for health care through the exchanges. Five million people. That is very significant. That number continues to grow, as some of the busiest days for the health care Web site and for the call-in number have been over the last few weeks.

Also, 4.4 million Americans have signed up for health care through Medicaid. They have been covered through Medicaid expansion.

We can talk about the fact that some States have decided not to expand Medicaid. So millions of these people, including in my home State of Texas, low-income Americans, most of these people going to work every day, working hard to support themselves and their family members who are still low-income Americans, but because the State governments have not expanded Medicaid in many States, they have not been able to get covered. So we are going to talk about that.

Another issue I want to talk a little bit about is something that is very significant for millions and millions of Americans, and that is mental health parity with physical health.

For years, we tried in State legislatures--I know I tried in Texas, as well as people across the United States--to make sure that mental health issues are covered by insurance in the same way that you would cover a broken arm or broken leg or even cancer. Millions of Americans suffer from anxiety, depression, and a slew of mental health issues. Previously, they were unable to get covered.

So those are some of the issues that we are going to talk about this evening.

I now yield to my good friend Congressman, Gene Green from Texas.

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Mr. CASTRO of Texas. That is right.

Congressman, once upon a time, these were the ideas of the Heritage Foundation. This was a conservative movement, conservative ideas, about how folks would take individual responsibility. Because, as you know, being in Harris County, our large hospitals systems end up with millions of dollars in uncompensated care every year.

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Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Thank you, Congressman.

A few things that you pointed out that I think are especially noteworthy. The first is that there is no perfect bill that we pass here. And especially, the larger the bill is, the more you are going to have to come back and change it and tweak it. That is what you have seen with the Affordable Care Act. So there is no surprise that we are going to have to have some changes to it. Quite frankly, there have been some changes in deadlines. There have been some other changes. Americans rightly ask, Well, why is the President or the administration doing that?

Well, it is very simple. Last year, for example, Congress passed the least amount of legislation of any year on record. The President is taking action to improve the law because the Congress will not or cannot. Somebody has got to be doing something here in Washington. Unfortunately, in the House of Representatives, we have hit a standstill. So the administration is making sure and listening to Americans and making the changes that are necessary.

No bill is ever going to be perfect. Social Security was deeply criticized when it was enacted. For several years, Medicare was deeply criticized when it was enacted.

So this is no surprise. Americans in previous generations have seen this before, have lived through this before, and this program has been a successful one. It will be even more successful as we go forward, and we will continue to talk a bit about some of the benefits to millions of Americans.

Before I yield to my colleague from California, Lucille Roybal-Allard, I want to point out that there are a few ways people can get information and sign up. We have been talking a lot about the Web site and asking people to go online, but there is also the traditional method.

We have the online Web site at healthcare.gov, of course. Also, by mail. You can download an application and send it in by mail. You can go in person here. You can also call by phone at 1-800-318-2596. I know there has been a lot of emphasis on the Web site, but you can also enroll by these traditional methods. That means a lot to a lot of folks in different communities.

I was at an enrollment fair on Saturday, and there was a woman who looked to be somewhere between 55 and 60. Quite honestly, she was a bit baffled by having to get on the computer, even thought she was being assisted, and she asked, Is there another way I can do it where I don't have to use a computer? The answer to that is yes, there are traditional methods.

With that, I want to yield to Congresswoman Roybal-Allard from the wonderful city of Los Angeles.

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Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Thank you, Congresswoman. And what a powerful story that you have told. I am glad to hear that California has done such an incredible job in making health care available to its constituents and to its residents. Thank you.

I would also point out, Congresswoman Roybal-Allard mentioned something that is very significant because Republicans have tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act now--I think it is about 51 times--50, 51 times.

We make no bones about it. There are a lot of Americans--a decent number of Americans who agree with that argument, who say repeal it; but let's understand, if your argument is repeal it, then understand exactly what you are repealing.

First, there is no plan that has been offered by the other side--no alternative. Also, if you repeal it, what you are saying now is you are going to, again, allow insurance companies to kick off cancer patients because they hit a lifetime limit, send them out of the hospital, send them home.

You are not going to allow recent college graduates to stay on their parents' insurance until they are 26 years old.

Remember, health care problems and big hospital bills, for years now, have been the number one reason for personal bankruptcies. People would run out of insurance money.

They would have to take out all of their savings from their bank accounts to pay their hospital bills; and then, they could no longer make their mortgage payment, their car payment. They couldn't help their kids go to college. They essentially became broke.

If you are talking about repealing the Affordable Care Act, then you have to accept and be upfront about the kind of future that you are inviting, which is a travel back to the past.

I have been surprised in my time here that Republicans have tried to repeal this law 51 times, and what is more surprising is that there is no alternative plan to the Affordable Care Act.

That is why, in the surveys, you see over 60 percent of Americans that say: Yeah, I may have an issue with it. I didn't like the way the Web site was done. I disagree with some parts of it, but I don't want it repealed. I want it improved.

Unfortunately, on the other side of the aisle, the strategy has not been to improve this thing and work with us to make it better. Like I said, any big law--any big law--whether it is about health care or mortgages or financial services or anything, any big law is going to require some tweaks and some changes.

So I hope that they will listen to the voice of Americans and take a different tack.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Cárdenas).

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Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Thank you, Congressman Cárdenas. Thank you for all of your work.

You also raise a great point, which is folks will often see the sticker price of the insurance on the exchanges.

By the way, I, as well as many other Members of Congress, bought our insurance off of the exchanges. We were getting asked that question a lot. You know, are you going to buy ObamaCare?

The answer is yes. I bought my insurance off the exchanges, and I saved money.

Folks should make sure that they also check, besides the sticker price, what kind of subsidy they get because it is meant to make insurance affordable for middle class Americans and others.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham).

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