Providing Consideration of H.R. 596, Repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I rise in opposition to the rule and the underlying bill. I may be
new to this Chamber, but it sure seems like Groundhog Day around here
to me. This is the 56th time my friends on the other side of the aisle
have tried to repeal or weaken this landmark law, and the puzzle for me
is that I know that they believe in so many of the provisions and
support them.

Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, millions of people who
didn't have insurance now have it and have signed up for the
marketplace plans; 299,000 in Michigan alone.

I know my friends on the other side of the aisle believe that
nobody's health coverage should be dropped when they suddenly get
diagnosed with cancer. I know my friends on the other side of the aisle
don't want to tell 129 million Americans that they are going to be
denied insurance because they have a preexisting condition. I know my
friends don't want to kick young people off their parents' insurance
plan, and I know they never want to go back to the days of lifetime caps on health coverage or tell seniors they have got to start paying more for their medicine again. This is why I am totally perplexed, because if this bill were to pass, over 9.5
million Americans would be hurt and left behind without access to
quality, affordable coverage.

The ACA may not be perfect. The last perfect law that there was
agreement on was the Ten Commandments; and honestly, in today's
climate, I am not sure we could get it through the Congress today. I
urge my colleagues to work together with us on how to improve the law
instead of constantly trying to do something they don't believe in.

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