Repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, almost exactly a year ago, the Republican
majority held a retreat where other Members met and they set their
agenda for 2014. After that retreat, the leadership issued a statement
promising, with a solemn promise, that the House Republicans will rally
around and pass an alternative to ObamaCare this year.

That is about 4 years after the law passed, but at least you can give
them some credit that they were going to move forward in 2014 with an
alternative to the Affordable Care Act.

That was last winter, and winter turned to spring, spring turned to
summer, summer turned to fall, fall turned to winter, and we never had
a vote in the House on the alternative, the promised alternative to
ObamaCare.

Maybe the committees took action, the committees that this proposed
bill is lateraling this issue off to. Did we have a committee vote on
Education and the Workforce, Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce? No.
Did we have hearings on an alternative that was promised by the
majority caucus a year ago on an alternative to the Affordable Care
Act? No, no hearings, no markup, no vote, no bill.

Here we are today with the majority once again throwing out a
promise: Trust us. In 180 days, we will have an alternative to the
Affordable Care Act.

Well, Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, in the last year, millions of
Americans have moved on. Parents are insuring their kids through the
Affordable Care Act up to age 26.

There are Members in the majority who take advantage of that very
provision to provide coverage for their children under the Affordable
Care Act that they seek to repeal here today.

Millions of seniors see their prescription drug costs cut because of
the Affordable Care Act because of the leftover of the Republican
prescription drug bill which led this outrageous doughnut hole that
threw 100 percent of the cost of medications to seniors who were paying
monthly premiums.

Yes, we saw the startup of exchanges, both at the State level--like
my State in the State of Connecticut--and the Federal exchange, which
have enrolled millions of Americans in affordable plans.

This year, the Affordable Care Act in Connecticut, we had submissions
by the insurance companies to participate in 2015. Did we see reduced
competition? Did we see less of a free marketplace? No, we saw more
competition. We have more insurers who are offering the product through
the exchange in 2015 than in 2014.

Did we see rates go up? Mr. Speaker, I am going to enter into the
Record a record from the Connecticut State Insurance Department which
shows that rates went down--down--for individual plans and for small
group market plans.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COURTNEY. The fact of the matter is that this marketplace, which
now has more carriers, is now providing lower rates, saving close to
$90 million from last year's rates than the year before.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, what we are being asked to do here today
is to stop that progress, to take away that coverage to young adults
that today get it through their parents' plans, to take away the
prescription drug benefit, to take away from seniors the relief that
they are getting for lifesaving medications, and to tell those
individual and small group plans that are purchasing it--this year,
again, we have 70,000 reenrollments of the 75,000 enrolled last year,
and we have 30,000 new that have enrolled this year in that plan.

We have cut the uninsured rate in a State like Connecticut that has
embraced the law down to 4 percent of its population.

You are telling folks like me to blow it up, get rid of it, and you
have no plan, even though your caucus made a promise a year ago to the
American people that they would provide a plan, and they never came
through with it.

Reject this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source